


Only Time

by thequidditchpitch_archivist



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Action/Adventure, Alternate Universe, Friendship, Post-Hogwarts, The Quidditch Pitch: Leaving Feast
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2006-07-21
Updated: 2006-07-20
Packaged: 2018-10-27 18:12:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 18
Words: 54,111
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10814154
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thequidditchpitch_archivist/pseuds/thequidditchpitch_archivist
Summary: After the defeat of Voldemort, Harry is offered the chance to rest, relax, and have fun...by going back in time to 1977, where he teaches his parents Defense Against the Dark Arts.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Note from Annie, the archivist: this story was originally archived at [The Quidditch Pitch](http://fanlore.org/wiki/The_Quidditch_Pitch), which went offline in 2015 when the hosting expired, at a time I was not able to renew it. I contacted Open Doors, hoping to preserve the archive using an old backup, and began importing these works as an Open Doors-approved project in April 2017. Open Doors e-mailed all authors about the move and posted announcements, but may not have reached everyone. If you are (or know) this creator, please contact us using the e-mail address on [The Quidditch Pitch collection profile](http://archiveofourown.org/collections/thequidditchpitch/profile).

The Offer

Blink. Eyes opened, but the world stayed fuzzy...then something pressed down on his nose and everything came into focus, including...Harry blinked, but the smiling face of Albus Dumbledore did not go away.

"Albus...what--" Harry tried to say, but ended up coughing instead. His head hurt as if someone had been continuously pounding it into a wall for hours on end, and his body didn't feel much better.

"Well done, my boy," Dumbledore said. "Well done. You've defeated Lord Voldemort."

"I've killed him, you mean," Harry said flatly as he fought to sit up, but finally gave up and sank back down onto the soft pillows. "Don't pretty up the words, Albus. You knew I would kill him since you told me about the prophecy, so there's no point in beating around the bush. What _are_ you doing here, anyway?"

"Ah, but it's not me there, it's you here," Dumbledore replied enigmatically, beaming, those infernal blue eyes never stopping their incessant twinkling.

"What, did he kill me too then?" Harry asked stupidly. "I thought dead people don't hurt anymore."

"Don't worry, my boy, you're not dead. You're just in an in-between place for now," Dumbledore said.

"But you're dead," Harry pointed out. "You've been dead for over a year now. So why are we...here...in this in-between place?"

"I've gotten permission to offer you something," Dumbledore responded. "We all think you'll like it."

"What is it, then?" Harry asked bluntly, too knackered to even ask about the _we_.

"A chance to get some rest. You won't need to worry about fighting Voldemort or his Death Eaters, about more friends dying...nothing but a bunch of students," Dumbledore said.

"Students? Albus, what are you talking about? If you're talking about making me a teacher, first of all, that's Minerva's responsibility now, and second of all, I'm not done with seventh year yet. And all the teaching positions are still full, as far as I know," Harry replied, confused.

"Yes, all full in _this_ time, of course! And Minerva's responsibility in _this_ time, but I'm not talking about _this_ time," Dumbledore said triumphantly. Harry blinked, not any less confused than he was before.

" _This_ time? Albus...are you talking about sending me into the past?" Harry asked incredulously. This was beyond even the usual insane ideas of Hogwarts's former Headmaster.

"Bingo!" Dumbledore beamed, and Harry didn't even ask how Dumbledore had learned that simple Muggle phrase. He was too busy trying to figure out just what the _hell_ Dumbledore and whoever was with him had been _thinking_...if, of course, they had been thinking in the first place, which Harry now strongly suspected they had not.

"I'm not going to even bother asking if you've gone insane, because I know you were never sane in the first place, but seriously Albus, the _past?_ What if I mess something up? What if I say something that betrays that I'm from the future? How would I get there? And in the name of all that's holy, what would I _teach_?" Harry asked, staring wide-eyed at Dumbledore, who was now chortling. Out of nowhere appeared a package of...something, and Dumbledore took one of those somethings out and popped it in his mouth.

"Lemon drop?" Dumbledore offered, but Harry turned his down with a shake of his head that he immediately regretted. The package of lemon drops disappeared again and Dumbledore tucked his hands into his sleeves. "Now onto the technical stuff. You would get there directly from here, and all your stuff, including your animal friends, would be sent with you, along with a few useful teaching materials. Once there you will go directly to my office and tell me that the future me sent you back for some rest from the war. I'll ask for some proof that you aren't really a Death Eater, but Hikari will serve well for that. Then I'll tell Minerva and Filius only, so they'll be able to cover for you if you get into trouble."

"How do you know all this already?" Harry asked weakly, unable to continue his protest.

"Why, I remember it, of course!" Dumbledore smiled.

"Okay...well then, there's still the question of what I would teach," Harry said.

"Oh, that's no problem," Dumbledore replied. "I believe that in the year 1977, after our previous teacher had fallen victim to Death Eaters, I was surprised and gratified to find an incredibly qualified young teacher calling himself Harry Patterson mysteriously appear right in time to take the Defense Against the Dark Arts post." Dumbledore smiled again, and chuckled at the look on Harry's face.

"1977? As in, the year my parents were in their seventh year?" Harry asked, unable to keep the surprise and trepidation out of his voice. Dumbledore nodded and patted his shoulder comfortingly.

"I know how much you wish you could have known your parents, and seen when your godfather and Remus were happy and carefree, where Wormtail wasn't a traitor. I know how hard it hit you when Sirius and Remus died, taking away your last chance to know more about your parents from the ones who knew them best. Death Eaters have never attacked the school, so you don't need to worry about that. You can just get to know them," Dumbledore said gently, compassionately.

"I look like my father, you know," Harry murmured. "How are we going to get past that, so he doesn't guess?"

"Well, your hair's already longer than James usually liked it, so we'll just add a simple hair-growth charm to make it a little longer, and as for those brilliant green eyes of yours...the Muggles have an ingenious method of disguise called color changing contact lenses," Dumbledore said, handing Harry a small box. Harry opened it and found a pair of brown contact lenses. Harry blinked, then shrugged, slipped off his glasses, and slid the contacts in his eyes. They were made for his prescription, so that at least was taken care of. Then he could feel his hair growing, an incredibly odd sensation, but then it was brushing his shoulders, and Harry ran a hand through it. A mirror appeared right in front of him, and Harry blinked to see his reflection. With his hair long, it wasn't a quarter as messy as it was short, though he still had that blasted silver streak, and the green eyes were hid by the contacts, so that only left...

"Albus...what about my scar? What do I say if someone asks about it?" Harry asked, still staring at the reflection of a man who did not look like James Potter.

Dumbledore shrugged. "Just tell them that it was a curse scar you got while fighting in the war. Just don't tell them what curse it was; we don't want someone to find out that you've survived Avada Kedavra."

"...Okay," Harry turned away from the mirror and faced Dumbledore again. "When am I leaving?"

"Right now," Dumbledore replied, and Harry closed his eyes, already feeling everything fade. In the distance he could hear Dumbledore still speaking. "...time won't pass in your time while you're there...tell the past me whatever you feel necessary...get some rest, Harry. Come back happy."

"But how will I get back?" Harry asked slowly, as if his lips were fighting their way through molasses in order to form words.

"At the end of the year, I'll bring you back. Don't worry, Harry. Just be happy...all I wanted was for you to be happy..." Dumbledore's voice faded away and Harry gratefully gave in to the darkness, knowing that as soon as he woke up, he'd be able to meet the people who were already so important to his life, despite having never met them...his parents...

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

  
  


 

Harry opened his eyes and groaned, more out of habit than of pain. The pounding that had plagued his body while in-between seemed to have completely disappeared, and Harry sat up. He was sitting in the grass just outside the Forbidden Forest near the lake, a large trunk with seven keyholes right next to him. He stood up, took out his wand, and shrunk the trunk, putting it in his pocket until he could get settled into the castle. Then he set off for the Headmaster's office.

Harry walked through the familiar halls, completely devoid of students, though that would change tonight when the students arrived and the Sorting took place. He made his way to the stone gargoyle that marked the entrance to the Headmaster's abode, and before he could wonder how he knew the password, he said it, and the gargoyle sprang aside, leaving Harry to go up the moving staircase, dropping him off right in front of Dumbledore's door. He knocked, heard a tired-sounding voice invite him in, and opened the door.

"Good afternoon. Who are you?" the Headmaster said, affable as always, his weary face trudging up a smile for his guest. Fawkes, sleeping on a perch behind him, stirred and opened one eye, but then went straight back to sleep.

"Harry Patterson," Harry replied, remembering the name Dumbledore had given him in the in-between place. "I've come to apply for the Defense Against the Dark Arts job."

Immediately Dumbledore's eyes lit up, and his smile became a genuine one, though the rest of his face still looked weary. "Do sit down then," Dumbledore said, waving his wand and a chair appearing out of nowhere. Harry took a seat, and Dumbledore leaned across his desk, steepling his fingers and letting his chin rest there.

"You look rather young to be a teacher," Dumbledore said conversationally, after offering Harry a cup of tea and Harry refusing it.

"I turned seventeen several months ago, sir, but my age has no bearing on my experience with fighting the Dark Arts," Harry replied, his mouth gone suddenly dry. What if Dumbledore didn't believe him?

"Oh?" Dumbledore said. "Seventeen...just the age of our incoming seventh years, though the most experience any of them have had with the Dark Arts has sadly been to having lost their families to Voldemort." Dumbledore was watching Harry closely while speaking, and was a bit surprised to see no reaction at the sound of Voldemort's name.

Harry smiled wearily at Dumbledore's obvious surprise at his lack of reaction to the name. "Fear of a name increases fear of the thing itself, Headmaster, and I have no fear of Tom Riddle anymore. He took nearly everything I cared for from me, and I simply have no room left in my heart for fear of him."

"But..." the professor protested, "you're so young..." Dumbledore did not know what to say to the look of wisdom in Harry's eyes, wisdom that was obviously gained at a cost.

Harry shrugged eloquently. "Again, age has no bearing on experience. I have been in battles before, I've had curses flung at me, including Imperious, Cruciatus, and Avada Kedavra, and I've flung curses back, though nothing Unforgivable. I won't sink to the Death Eaters' level," Harry replied.

"Including Avada Kedavra?" Dumbledore said, astonished.

Harry just shrugged again. "I dodged. Dodging curses becomes second nature after a while, though every once in a while a curse would get through...usually Cruciatus, damn it," Harry said matter-of-factly.

Dumbledore could do nothing but blink as he stared at the only person he had ever seen describing get hit with the _Cruciatus_ casually. Harry must have noticed how bewildered he was, because he laughed a bit.

"It's okay, Headmaster, I'm still mostly sane. I've just seen a lot. Now, about the job?" Harry went on, and Dumbledore gave himself a little shake.

"Yes, of course, the job. Well, it's obvious you have experience, but...how do I know if I can trust you?" Dumbledore asked, suddenly suspicious. "I've never heard of you, and you know Tom Riddle's name, which is supposed to be classified information..."

Harry smiled. "As for how you can trust me...just wait a minute and I'll show you," and with these enigmatic words, Harry dug something out of his pocket. " _Engorgio_ ," he muttered, pointing his wand at it, and the thing grew into a fairly large trunk with seven locks. Harry dug something else out of his pocket and similarly englarged it; it turned out to be a key. Harry turned to the trunk and fit the key into the third keyhole on the right, then opened the trunk. Dumbledore leaned over his desk to get a good look at what was inside.

It seemed to be a rather deep cavern, but it was unlike every other cavern that Dumbledore had ever seen in that it had a _tree_ growing right in the middle of it. Harry smiled slightly as he stuck his head in the trunk and trilled softly. There was a rustling of branches, and then two flying bird-shaped things came bursting out, of the tree and the trunk, settling themselves to land on Harry's shoulder. One of them was a beautiful snowy owl, who nipped Harry's finger affectionately when he stroked her beak, and the other...the other was a phoenix.

"How...?" Dumbledore started, but was unable to finish his sentence, unable to do anything but stare dumbly at the young man who was now softly stroking the phoenix's head with a knuckle, a blissful expression on his face as the phoenix leaned into his hand and trilled happily.

"Her name's Hikari. It means 'light' in Japanese," Harry said quietly, still stroking the lovely bird. "She just...came out of nowhere one day last year. Just flew up to me, and apparently decided to stay. She's helped me a lot...whenever I'd get bogged down with all my responsibilities, she'd just be there for me..." Then Harry looked up, straight at Dumbledore, piercing brown eyes meeting the Headmaster's blue ones. "This proof enough, sir?" Harry indicated the phoenix on his shoulder.

"A phoenix only comes to those who are trustworthy...yes, that's proof enough that I can trust you...but I would still like some answers. Why does it seem like I've met you before, and how did you know Voldemort's true name?" Dumbledore asked slowly.

Harry smiled bitterly. "As to how I know his name...he told me, of course. Whenever he kidnapped me or battled me, he couldn't stop from babbling on about his life before he became the evil megalomaniac, or his plans to kill and torture me and the rest of my friends. He hated me...more than he even hated you, I think. But I'm not really answering your questions, am I?"

"I will admit to being a bit confused," Dumbledore said, carefully studying the young man sitting before him. What was so special about this boy that would make him a target of the Dark Lord...?

Harry sighed. "Well, he told me to tell you, so I guess I will...just hope you believe me..."

"Who told you to tell me?" Dumbledore asked sharply.

Harry smiled wryly. "You did, sir. Or rather, your future self. Because that's where I come from. The future."

Dumbledore's only reaction was to raise an eyebrow. "How far into the future?" he asked.

Harry thought a moment. "It's the beginning of the school year of 1977, so...just over twenty years. But I'm sure you'll understand if I don't tell you much of what happens, only what really matters. I'd rather not cause a paradox," Harry said, smiling humorlessly.

Dumbledore nodded. "I understand. But can you at least tell me what brings you here?"

Harry sighed again and leaned back in his chair, causing his owl to squawk in indignation and fly to a perch near the window, and Hikari to move to his lap. "Well, the bare bones of the matter is that I just killed Voldemort, and you sent me into the past to get some rest, as well as getting to know some of my adult friends, who are students at this time. You...he told me that the Defense position was open, and I guess since I have so much experience fighting the Dark Arts, it only makes sense that I take it."

Dumbledore blinked and sucked in a breath. "You killed Voldemort?"

Harry nodded glumly, closing his eyes, and Dumbledore found himself surveying Harry much more critically than before. Well, that explains why he's been in battles, but such a young man killing possibly the most powerful Dark Lord in the last thousand years...it was an amazing idea, and rather hard to wrap his mind around. But then one of Harry's eyes cracked open.

"Oh, and don't bother asking why someone as young as me killed Tom, since I can't tell you. Could jeopardize the future and all that. And my real name isn't Patterson, but since my parents are some of the students I'll be teaching, I can't use my real last name. I'm not going to be telling you that either, though you might be able to figure it out soon enough. And tell Minerva and Filius what I've told you. I can have them testify that I once went to school here and stuff like that," Harry said.

"Fair enough," Dumbledore replied. "May I ask what house you were in?"

Harry grinned, a true grin this time. "Gryffindor, of course, though the Hat told me I would have done well in Slytherin, and I can see its point...not that it matters now that I'm to be a teacher." Harry winked, and Dumbledore winked back.

Dumbledore stood up and Harry followed suit, carefully moving Hikari from his lap back to his shoulder. He reached a hand across the table, and Harry shook it. "Welcome to Hogwarts, Professor Patterson."

 

 

[](http://forums.fictionalley.org/sch_reviews/newreply.php?threadid=11442)


	2. Chapter 2

After getting off the Hogwarts Express, James Potter climbed into one of the carriages (which Remus and Sirius claimed were drawn by thestrals, but since James had never seen a Thestral, he wouldn't know) along with his best friends, and stared out the window once the doors closed and the carriages started moving.

"James? Jaaaaaaaaames!" Sirius was calling, and James looked away from the window just in time for Sirius to give him a noogie, messing up his hair even more than usual. He glared at his friend as he tried to flatten it again, with his usual lack of success.

"What is it, Padfoot?" James asked, not even trying to keep the annoyance out of his voice. Sirius grinned, not at all put off by his best friend's tone.

"So sorry to interrupt your thoughts, your Head Boyship, but we needed your input on the matter of this year's Sorting Feast Prank," Sirius said, bowing mockingly at James from his seat, who waved his fist mockingly back. James gave an outward sigh, but permitted himself an inward grin.

"We should play it on the new Defense teacher," James suggested.

"New Defense teacher?" Peter asked, looking confused. "What about Professor Dreyer?"

"Do you pay no attention to the _Daily Prophet_ , Peter?" James asked. "It said there was an attack on his hometown during the summer and he was killed. Therefore, Dumbledore must have found us a new Defense teacher, and what better way to break in a new teacher than to play a prank on him?"

"Or her," Remus felt obliged to say, not taking his eyes off the book he had been reading since they left King's Cross that morning.

"Or her," James conceded, then leaned forward with a grin. "So what's it to be, mates?"

"We could just set off fireworks," Remus said, nose still buried in his book. Sirius grinned and snatched the book from Remus's hand.

"Moooooony, no reading while prank-planning!" Sirius said, tsking.

"Give me my book back, you prat," Remus said, reaching for his book, but Sirius held it just out of his reach. Holding the book with one hand, he took out his wand with the other and conjured a book mark, sliding it into the part of the book Remus had been reading. He then handed it back to Remus, who glared half-heartedly at him, but put the book away. James felt like either laughing at the antics of his friends or banging his head against the window in frustration, so he just settled for a really disturbing expression.

Once Sirius and Remus stopped glaring at each other, Peter cleared his throat. "About the prank, guys..."

"I still think fireworks would be fine, especially if they were coming from the Slytherin table," Remus said. "That way the new professor would think it was them, not us, since he or she doesn't know about us or our reputation yet."

"But fireworks are so...so tame!" Sirius complained. "I think we should turn all the Slytherins' food into butter and rocks just as they were about to eat it."

The other three Marauders looked at him incredulously. "Butter and _rocks_ , Sirius? Where did you come up with that?" James asked, blinking owlishly.

Sirius shrugged. "Dunno, just came to me. So how about it?"

"You know, Sirius, that's not playing a prank on the new professor, that's just playing a prank on the Slytherins," Remus pointed out.

"Oh, and like your idea is any better! It's just fireworks," Sirius retorted, huffing. James thought privately he looked a lot like Padfoot right then.

"We could charm the fireworks to stick around the new teacher," Remus replied, still looking calmly unflappable.

"How about we do both?" Peter suggested, and flushed as everyone in the carriage turned to look at him. "We could charm the Slytherins' food _and_ the fireworks, playing a prank on the Slytherins and the new teacher at the same time!"

"Good idea Pete, but if we want the new professor to think the fireworks came from the Slytherins, we shouldn't charm their food," James pointed out, and Peter deflated.

"Well, what do you suggest then?" Sirius asked James irritably.

"I personally like Remus's idea," James said mildly. "If we can get a professor to dislike the Slytherins right off the bat, then I'm all for it."

Sirius grudgingly conceded his point, and the rest of the carriage ride was spent charming the fireworks green and silver and making sure they would stick around the new teacher. They finished just as they pulled up to Hogwarts, James and Sirius hiding the fireworks in their robes until they were ready.

The boys got out of their carriage and walked through the entrance hall into the Great Hall towards the Gryffindor table. They sat down in a group at the end nearest the staff table, and immediately Sirius and Peter stared morosely at their plates, obviously wishing for the food, and Remus took out his book again. James, however, let his eyes wander around the Hall until they reached the teachers. Once he was looking at the staff table, James blinked, and nudged Sirius, who was sitting next to him.

"Sirius! Get a look at the new teacher!" James hissed, and Remus and Peter looked up as well. When they looked at the person sitting between the two empty seats of Professors McGonagall and Flitwick, they blinked too.

"...Doesn't he look...a little young to be a teacher?" Remus asked, voicing all their thoughts. He had a young-looking face, shoulder-length black hair with a single silver streak running through it, and looked like he would be rather short when standing...probably around James's height of 5'8. And the silver streak in his hair did nothing to detract from his apparent youthfulness, merely emphasizing his features.

Their musings on their new teacher were cut short as Professor Flitwick came out with the Sorting Hat, and soon after, Professor McGonagall with the first years, who stood at the end of the Hall in a huddle, most blinking fearfully. But soon the Hat burst into song, and the faces of the first years began sprouting smiles.

_A long, long time ago, in fact,_

_A thousand years and more_

_Four wizards founded this here school_

_And here they'd teach their lore._

_These wizards founded houses, too,_

_For me to put you in._

_Gryffindor and Ravenclaw_

_Hufflepuff and Slytherin._

_Bold Gryffindor would never have_

_Accepted any knave_

_Only those with chivalry_

_And who are always brave._

_Then there was good Ravenclaw_

_Who ruled over the wise._

_She wanted only clever students_

_Who always would try._

_Sweet Hufflepuff wanted those_

_Who would help each other._

_They would work hard and_

_Treat all friends like a brother._

_Ambition was wanted_

_For those of Slytherin._

_Work hard and then you'll be_

_Admitted to their kin._

_So put me on, don't give a shout_

_And don't creep like a mouse._

**_I'll look inside your head at once_ **

_And then you'll know your house!_

Applause burst out all over the Great Hall, and many of the first years looked relieved. Professor McGonagall began calling them up to be Sorted, and soon Gryffindor had four new girls and three new boys. Soon after the last student had been Sorted into Ravenclaw, Professor Dumbledore stood up, clapped his hands, and the feast appeared.

Sirius and Peter fell on to the food as if they hadn't eaten for years. Remus and James just rolled their eyes and smiled, eating their food much more neatly and calmly. In the middle of his potatoes, James looked up at the teachers, only to see the new one staring down at his plate, just picking at his food. Professor McGonagall said something to him, and he smiled slightly and shook his head. After that, he ate a bit more, but soon put his fork down and just stared at his plate. James looked back over his own table, where desserts were now appearing, and thought nothing more of their new professor's eating habits in the wake of treacle tart.

Once everyone finished and the plates were all cleared, Professor Dumbledore stood up again, beaming.

"Hello, and welcome back to another year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry! A few start of term announcements to you all...first of all, the Forbidden Forest is off-limits to all students..." his eyes flicked in the direction of the Marauders, who just smiled cheerily and waved.

Dumbledore continued on with his announcements, while James said in an undertone to Sirius, "Let's set the fireworks off just as Dumbledore introduces the new teacher."

"Got it," Sirius said back.

They turned their attention back to Dumbledore just in time to hear him say, "...this year's Head Boy and Girl--James Potter and Lily Evans!"

James noticed Lily Evans standing, and belatedly realized he should stand too, so he got up, flushing as he heard several people chuckle, and flushing harder when Evans leveled a glare at him. James just smiled cheekily at her, and they sat down.

"Now, I'm sure we shall all miss Professor Dreyer, who we lost just this summer, but I'm proud to introduce this year's Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, Professor Patterson!"

Unnoticed amidst the applause, James and Sirius took out their fireworks, pointed them at Professor Patterson, and with a tap of their wands, set them off. They immediately began sizzling with green and silver sparks, and then they flew off towards Professor Patterson, who raised an eyebrow, and then in the blink of an eye, got out his wand and murmured something James couldn't hear. Unfortunately, whatever Professor Patterson muttered had the effect of reversing the path of the fireworks, so now they were going after those who had set them off. James and Sirius first looked surprised as the green-and-silver fireworks rocketed around them, but soon they started laughing, and everyone else joined in. Even some of the teachers were chuckling, including Professor Patterson, but not including Professor McGonagall, who had just risen from her seat and was now coming over to the Gryffindor table, a stern expression on her face.

"Potter, Black, detention!" she snapped. "Potter, I'm surprised at you! You're Head Boy now... _what_ an impression to make on the new teacher..."

"But Professor, he seemed to deal with it well enough," James said, just as a firework went rocketing past his face.

"Yes, well, I daresay he did," Professor McGonagall said. "However, that doesn't excuse your actions. See me after class tomorrow and I'll tell you what your detentions will be." She walked away back to the staff table, and the fireworks finally died down.

"What _was_ that he did to repel the fireworks, anyway?" Sirius asked James as they were leaving the Great Hall with Remus and Peter. James shrugged.

"A variation of a shield charm," said a voice behind them, and all four boys wheeled around to see Professor Patterson standing behind them, a small smile on his face, idly twirling his wand.

"A shield charm? But I thought those only repelled magic. Where'd you learn it?" Remus asked, a bit confused. James smiled a bit and shook his head softly. _Ah, Moony. Ever the scholar._

 

"Made it up myself," the professor replied, and James blinked.

"You made up a spell yourself? Cool!" Sirius exclaimed.

Professor Patterson shrugged. "It was necessary. I've been in battles where sometimes enemies actually physically attack you, knowing that you're expecting magic. I've had to compensate for those times," he explained.

Peter's eyes were wide. "You've been in battles before? Were you an Auror before you came? Why _did_ you come?"

"I needed some rest from the war," the professor replied. "Speaking of rest, shouldn't you boys be getting to Gryffindor Tower?" With that, he strode past them and up the stairs, all four Marauders watching him go. Then James's eyes widened.

"Shit!" he exclaimed. "I have to go set the password! Dammit, I'm already doing a crappy job of being Head Boy...no idea what the hell Dumbledore was thinking..."

Remus laughed. "Welcome to the world of responsibility, my friend," the prefect said, slinging an arm over James's shoulder. "Don't worry about it though. Lily always leads the first years on the long way. You'll beat her to the Fat Lady if you take the passage behind the statue of the three nuns up to the seventh floor. And wouldn't it make a good impression on her if you appear to be taking your responsibilities seriously?"

James blushed and set off running for the statue of the three nuns, Sirius, Remus, and Peter following him at a more sedate pace, all three chuckling appreciatively. James ground his teeth and ran, hoping that he would get there before Lily. He really wanted to make a better impression on her. It was his last year at Hogwarts, and if he didn't get her to go out with him by the end of the year, he didn't know what he'd do.


	3. Chapter 3

Harry sighed and rubbed at his eyes wearily. It was the third day of term, and while he liked teaching Defense, and had been teaching the D.A. at Hogwarts for just over two years now, it was _hard_ being a full-time teacher. He was pretty much just improvising for the first and second years, since those teachers for his own first and second year didn't really teach him anything. So he started teaching them about the milder jinxes and hexes, and of course, the incredibly useful Disarming Spell. _When I think of the number of times that spell has saved my life...ah well._

But today, in about ten minutes, would be the class that he most dreaded and most looked forward to teaching--the seventh year Gryffindors and Slytherins. Harry was a bit surprised that he'd get them together, since _his_ Defense class had always been Gryffindor only, but it didn't matter. He wasn't especially looking forward to teaching Snape, but he was rather nervous about teaching the Marauders.

He didn't know what he would do when faced with his father, his godfather, the man he had regarded as an honorary uncle, and the one who betrayed them. James, Remus, and Sirius were dead, and Peter was...gone. He'd disappeared, though privately Harry suspected that Voldemort finally grew tired of him and disposed of him. So he didn't know what he'd do when faced with all four of them alive, well, and happy, though as he caught the sound of footsteps outside his classroom, he'd have to figure out a way to deal with it, and soon.

The door opened and someone with bright red hair walked in and set her bags down on a desk right in front of his own. Harry felt his heart constrict at the sight of the young woman who would become his mother, especially as she looked up and met his eyes, vibrant emerald to nondescript brown. But as the door opened again, young Lily Evans looked away, watching Snape and several other Slytherins Harry didn't know walk into the room and seat themselves at desks in the back. Right on their heels came four more girls, two who immediately sat on either side of Lily, the other two choosing a desk right behind her.

The class waited in silence for the other members to arrive, but when the bell rang and they still hadn't appeared, Harry stood up and prepared to speak. Just then the door flew open and in ran the missing four boys, out of breath and panting.

"Sorry...Professor!" James gasped, leaning against a desk and taking a deep breath. "We had to talk to Professor McGonagall."

"That's all right, boys," Harry replied, a bit caught by surprise when James called him 'Professor'. _Must get used to that..._ Harry thought absently. "Just take your seats and I'll call role. I still need to learn everybody's names."

The boys all sat down at one desk, Remus and Sirius next to each other in the middle, James next to Sirius and Peter next to Remus. Harry looked back down at his desk, at the attendance sheet, and began to call roll, matching names to faces. Once he was done, he walked around to the front of his desk and surveyed the seventeen students sitting before him.

"This lesson will just be me seeing how far you are," Harry said quietly, "so you won't need any parchment. I'll just be asking you questions and having some of you demonstrate things. Some of these questions will appear to be easy, but I ask you to bear with me."

Harry waited while everyone put their parchment and quills away, leaving their wands on their desks, before barking out, "Mr. Pettigrew! What is the incantation for the Disarming Spell?"

" _Expelliarmus_ ," Peter replied calmly, and Harry gave a small nod of approval. Much as he disliked the little rat, he couldn't let that show to the class. And besides, _this_ Peter had not yet betrayed his best friends.

"Miss Weathers, what is a Patronus?" Harry asked of a Slytherin girl, who looked confused.

"We haven't learned about the Patronus yet, Professor," she replied. Harry got out a bit of parchment and jotted down _must teach Patronus...find a way without revealing Patronus._

"Then you'll be learning about that this year. Mr. Snape, where would you look for a kappa?" Harry continued.

"Mongolia," Snape replied primly.

"Actually, kappas are more commonly found in Japan," Remus corrected, and Harry permitted himself a small smile as he remembered his third year when Snape corrected their essays on kappas, saying they were more commonly found in Mongolia, whereas they were really _Japanese_ water demons.

"Good job, Mr. Lupin," Harry said, and Snape glared at Remus. "Miss Evans, come up here and produce a shield for me."

Lily picked up her wand, walked up to the front of the room, and said clearly, " _Protego."_

"Good, good. Now, Mr. Potter, please come up and attempt to Stun Miss Evans," Harry ordered with a slight smile. James smirked a bit as he came to the front of the room.

" _Stupefy!_ " James cried, and out of his wand came a red jet of light, which hit Lily's shield and dissipated. Lily smiled, and James looked a bit disappointed.

"Good job, you two. You may return to your seats," Harry said, and Lily and James sat down again. Harry leaned against his desk. He continued on in that fashion for a while; calling students up to demonstrate spells, or asking them questions related to Defense.

"Now, have your past Defense teachers taught you anything about the Unforgivables?" Harry asked, looking around the classroom.

"No," said one of Lily's friends, Anne Edgecoombe, rolling her eyes. "We were supposed to learn about them last year, but Professor Dreyer thought we were too _young_ to learn about such nasty curses."

"Well, they are rather nasty," Harry agreed, "but I learned about them in my fourth year. My teacher, an incredibly paranoid former Auror" _Who was actually a Death Eater in disguise, but let's not go into that_ "said that it didn't matter how old we were. We had to see what Dark wizards were capable of. We had to know, first hand, what we could very possibly face once we graduated. He showed us all three curses, demonstrated them on spiders...and then cast the Imperius curse on each of us in turn." Harry ignored the gasps of all his students and smiled thinly. "I will be doing the same to you all, because...having the experience has helped me, and it might help you too someday."

"So just because it's helped _you_ and you _think_ it might help us, you're going to cast a highly illegal curse on _us_?" Snape asked incredulously, sitting back in his chair and crossing his arms. All the rest of the students seemed to have a similar problem with Harry's pronouncement, but Harry was watching Snape. Snape fixed his eyes on Harry, who met his gaze with a raised eyebrow. Snape dropped his eyes first.

"There's a reason it's illegal, you know, Mr. Snape. Care to tell us why that is?" Harry said, smirking bit. _Damn, it feels good to show the greasy git that sometimes he's wrong, and without fear of getting detentions or points taken away! Being a teacher's good..._

"Because it completely takes away the victim's will, leaving the victim completely in the caster's power," Snape replied promptly. Peter Pettigrew looked terrified at the prospect.

"Correct, Mr. Snape...but that's just the beginning. There's so much more to the Unforgivables than meets the eye--all three of them, and learning how to fight them could save your life, your sanity, your dignity and ideals. Next lesson will be about the Unforgivables. Now for homework...I want all of you to write out a list of every single spell you know, and write how each of them can be used in a defense situation. Considering you are seventh years and your knowledge of spells is extensive, you will be given two weeks to complete this assignment. Have a nice day."

The class filed out of the classroom, many of the students muttering darkly to their friends, but Sirius Black signaled his friends that he would catch up with them later, and hung back around the door. Harry, who had sat down behind his desk and put his head in his hands as soon as the class left, looked up again to see the young Marauder waiting patiently for his attention.

"Yes, Mr. Black?" Harry asked wearily. He really did not want to have to cast the Imperius curse, but if casting the curse helped save someone from doing its bidding by getting them used to throwing it off, Harry would cast it.

"I just wanted to say, Professor..." Sirius started, fidgeting nervously.

"Yes?" Harry prompted, leaning forward.

"I just wanted to say...I think you casting the Imperius on us is a good idea!" Sirius blurted out, and Harry blinked, surprised. "If we can build blocks on it by having the experience in fighting it, then that's all to the good, to my thinking. I don't want to ever have to listen to Dark wizards!" Sirius exclaimed passionately, but then his eyes widened, as if thinking he had said too much, and he practically fled out the door.

Harry sat back in his chair, thinking. It was very nice to have such a vote of confidence from Sirius, who he still respected a great deal despite his being seventeen and likely very different from the Sirius Harry had known, but what brought that on? Harry remembered the summer before fifth year, when he first learned about Sirius's family, and how they were Dark wizards...but then wouldn't Sirius want absolutely nothing to do with any Dark spells, especially an Unforgivable?

Harry sighed and stood up, stretching. It was his free period, and he decided he'd better tell the Headmaster about his lesson plans for the next class. He didn't think Dumbledore would appreciate it if Harry was casting Unforgivables on his students without permission, even for a good reason, so he walked out of his classroom and made his way to the stone gargoyle that guarded Dumbledore's office. He spoke the password and watched as the gargoyle sprang aside, then walked in and let the moving staircase carry him upwards. He knocked on the door, and at Dumbledore's invitation to come in, entered.

"Ah, Harry. How was your last class? You had seventh year Gryffindors and Slytherins, I believe," Dumbledore said jovially. He gestured to a chair on the other side of his desk, and Harry sat down.

"That's kind of what I wanted to talk to you about," Harry said, watching Dumbledore carefully for any sign of surprise. Dumbledore, however, just smiled enigmatically and offered him a lemon drop. Harry hid a smile-- _Some things never change_ \--and declined politely.

"Oh?" Dumbledore said, leaning back in his chair and popping a lemon drop in his mouth. "And what is there about this class that you need to bring to my attention?"

"You are aware that their previous teacher did not teach them anything about the Unforgivables?" Harry asked, and at Dumbledore's nod, continued. "I find the sentiment of trying to protect someone from something bad by not telling of it a useless gesture, which can only lead to pain" _I should know--how can someone know what to avoid if no one warns them about it?_ "so my next class, I'm going to teach about the Unforgivables. I've decided to show their effects on something, most likely a bug of some sort, and then," Harry took a deep breath, "cast the Imperius on the students themselves. And the sixth years too, since I think they should also see these curses."

"Oh?" Dumbledore repeated, looking completely relaxed, as if teachers told him they were going to cast Unforgivables on his students every day. "Any particular reason for this?"

Harry ground his teeth. _I'm sure you can guess the reason...you aren't stupid, after all...you just like to play with people,_ Harry thought, but kept it to himself. "The students need to know what they'll be up against," Harry explained instead. "Voldemort and his Death Eaters use the Imperius--and the other Unforgivables--very often, and I feel the students should see what could possibly be used against them. And by casting the Imperius, I could give them valuable experience in fighting the curse. However, I figured I shouldn't go casting illegal curses without your permission."

"I see," Dumbledore said. "In that case, you have my permission. Is there anything else you would like to discuss?"

Harry thought a bit. There _was_ something he had been meaning to ask about, so he figured this would be as good a time as any to ask. "Professor, what's going on with Voldemort right now?"

Dumbledore blinked, obviously not expecting the question, but that was his only sign of surprise. "What do you mean, Harry?"

"Well," Harry said, almost wishing he hadn't asked, though then of course he'd have to deal with being ignorant, "I heard from some people that it was a pretty rough time, in his first rise to power--"

"First rise to power?" Dumbledore raised his eyebrows. "You didn't mention he had more than one rise to power."

Harry rubbed his forehead, running his fingers lightly over his scar. "In 1981, Voldemort was temporarily defeated, but I'm not going to tell you what happened, it could change the future. It's bad enough that you know it'll be 1981 now. But anyway, he lost his body, and his spirit hid out in Albania possessing animals and stuff for thirteen years, before coming back in 1995 after he found a way to get his body back. Then I defeated him for good in early 1998. But the years from 1970 to 1981 are termed his first rise to power, and from 1995 to 1998 his second."

"I see," Dumbledore said, looking thoughtful. "Continue on with your question then."

"Okay, well, in his second rise to power, he kept quiet for about a year before he reappeared. Pretty much no one believed us when we said he was back, but anyway...I heard his first rise to power was pretty hard, with lots of disappearances and stuff. So I was just wondering, is it still only disappearances, or is there a real war going on?" Harry asked, looking Dumbledore straight in the eye.

Dumbledore sighed, looking tired for the first time since the meeting started. "There's a real war going on, Harry. There were only disappearances for a couple years, but two years ago, Voldemort began killing in earnest, Muggles and wizards alike, though only wizards he termed "Muggle-lovers". Almost from the start, people were calling him You-Know-Who rather than Voldemort, and considering all the attacks, everyone _did_ know who. I tried to get people to call him by his true name, but many feared that by saying his name, they would somehow draw his attention to themselves, and no one wanted to draw his attention. Does that answer your question, Harry?"

Harry sighed, still rubbing his scar. "Only too well, Professor. At least he shouldn't be coming to Hogwarts, and I can actually get some _rest_ in." He gave Dumbledore a quick smile, then stood up. Dumbledore smiled back. "I should go prepare for my next class. I'll see you at dinner, Headmaster."

"Feel free to call me Albus, Harry. My staff and I are on first-name terms," Dumbledore said.

"Then I'll see you at dinner, Albus," Harry replied, grinning, and left. Dumbledore sat back in his chair, smiling and pondering the mystery that was Harry Patterson.


	4. Chapter 4

James and Remus were walking to their next class, NEWT-level Potions (Peter was in Arithmancy) when Sirius caught up. James and Remus stopped and waited for him to catch his breath, and then they set off again. Being late for Professor Brewster's class was a sure way to lose ten points, and with James the Head Boy and Remus a prefect, that would not go down well with some of their housemates...namely, Head Girl Lily Evans.

"What'd you want to talk to Patterson about?" James asked Sirius as they entered the dungeons and dumped their stuff near a cauldron.

"I wanted to tell him that I support his decision to cast the Imperius on us," Sirius replied as he took out some parchment, ready to take notes. Remus dropped his quill.

"You want our teacher to cast a highly illegal Dark curse on us?" Remus asked incredulously, staring at Sirius. "But you hate Dark stuff! And what with what happened last summer..."

"Precisely why I think it's a good idea," Sirius said quietly. "I intend to fight the Dark Lord in any way I can, and I'm sure I'm going to come into contact with the Unforgivables sometime. I know there's no defense against the Cruciatus and Avada Kedavra, but if I can fight the Imperius, then I'll never be forced to do something that could hurt the people I love."

"I expect that's what Patterson meant when he said that having the Imperius cast on him during class helped him," James said, joining the conversation. Sirius and Remus turned to look at him, but just then Professor Brewster came out of his office and gave them the instructions for brewing the Dreamless Sleep potion.

"I mean," James continued as Brewster walked by, "he already told us that he's been in battles. Death Eaters were probably casting the Unforgivables left and right, and whoever had any sort of resistance against them was one up on the Dark wizards."

"Exactly!" Sirius exclaimed, enthusiastically sorting out his ingredients. Snape looked up to see what Sirius was being so loud about, but a glare from the three Marauders made him concentrate on his own potion.

Remus sighed. "I know. It probably will be valuable experience, but...Merlin! I just don't like the idea of someone completely taking control over my body." Remus shuddered, and James and Sirius exchanged a look of sympathy mixed with dawning realization. _Of course Remus wouldn't like the Imperius--something takes control over his body monthly! I wonder if the Imperius will feel anything like the Change..._ James thought as he got to work preparing the ingredients for the potion.

"Maybe you'll be able to fight it," Sirius suggested suddenly, and James stopped slicing his Mandrake roots to turn to see Sirius beaming at Remus, who had also stopped what he was doing to look at Sirius. "I mean, what with your" here Sirius lowered his voice "monthly experience, you might be able to throw off the curse."

"Thanks and all, Sear, but as I'm never successful in fighting my" Remus similarly lowered his voice " 'monthly experience', I doubt it will help at all."

Sirius looked deflated, but just as he opened his mouth to say something else, Professor Brewster barked, "Potter! Black! Lupin! Is that your potion you're so avidly discussing?"

Rolling his eyes, James signaled Sirius and Remus that they would continue the discussion out of class. It _was_ NEWT year, after all, and they really needed to be able to make their potions right and do well on the NEWTs if they wanted to be Aurors.

So the boys completed their potion to the professor's satisfaction and left, heading towards the Great Hall for dinner. They sat down at the Gryffindor table where Peter was already seated, waiting for them. He immediately began babbling about Arithmancy, which was his favorite subject but which the other three had decided not to continue with. James began eating as Sirius and Remus discussed the pros and cons of going into the Forbidden Forest as humans, and Peter was already stuffing his face. During a lull in the conversation, James looked up at the staff table, where he saw Professor Patterson chatting animatedly with Professor Flitwick. However, as soon as Professor Flitwick turned away to say something to Professor Kettleburn, the Care of Magical Creatures teacher, a strange, almost sad expression came over Patterson's face. But when Flitwick turned back, Patterson just shook his head a bit and continued the discussion. James thought this behavior a bit odd, but he was very hungry and had just gotten started eating his beef, so he thought nothing more of it.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Several days later, the four Marauders were sitting in the common room during their free period right before Defense Against the Dark Arts, James and Sirius planning a prank, Peter talking to his girlfriend, a curly-haired sixth year, and Remus doing homework, quill scratching furiously over the parchment.

"Oi, Remus!" Sirius said, looking up. Remus glanced up, his quill stopping momentarily.

"Yes, Sirius?" Remus asked politely, but James could tell he wanted to get back to whatever he was writing.

"Why don't you stop working on that and help us? We need Mr. Moony's brilliant mind," Sirius said with a grin. James just rolled his eyes, sharing a quick smile with Remus.

"Because I'd like to get this assignment done," Remus explained patiently. "It's the Defense assignment, and considering this is supposed to be _all the spells we know_ , it's going to take awhile."

Suddenly Sirius cursed, slapping himself on the forehead. "I completely forgot about that! But it's not due for another week and a half..."

"Well, unless you feel like doing it all the night before it's due and possibly forgetting tons of spells, I suggest you get started on it soon," Remus said dryly.

"Speaking of Defense..." James spoke up, and Sirius and Remus looked at him. "...we should probably get going. It's the lesson on the Unforgivables today."

Remus nodded and started rolling up his parchment, putting it and his quills and stuff in his bag. Sirius simply stuffed the parchment he and James were using to plan the prank in his pocket before standing up and stretching.

"Peter! Sorry to pry you away from Jennifer here, but we have to get to Defense," Sirius said, walking up to Peter and clapping a hand on his shoulder. Peter smiled apologetically at his girlfriend, who just smiled back and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek before moving away. Peter sighed and began gathering his stuff.

"Let's go then," Peter said once they all had their stuff together. The other three nodded and went out the portrait hole, greeting to the fifth years who were just coming in. One of the girls blushed when Sirius absently said hello to her, but Sirius just continued talking to Remus, not noticing his effect on the girl. James smirked as he walked by, amused.

They made it to Defense on time that day, though they were still the last to enter the room. Professor Patterson was sitting at his desk, absentmindedly tapping a quill against his lips as he stared down at some parchment strewn about his desk. He looked up and smiled, a bit strained, as the four boys sat down and the bell rang. He stood up and walked around to the front of his desk.

"Today's the lesson on the Unforgivables," he said quietly, but the room was so silent that everyone heard him. "Since Mr. Snape was able to tell us what the Imperius curse does, perhaps he would like to explain the Cruciatus. Mr. Snape?"

Snape sat up straighter, though he paled a bit. "The Cruciatus causes excruciating pain in all parts of the body until the caster decides to lift the curse," he said.

"Five points to Slytherin, Mr. Snape. Good job," the professor said. Then he looked around the room, meeting the eyes of every single student in turn. "The Cruciatus triggers all your nerve impulses for pain until you can do nothing but scream and writhe around on the ground. Held too long under the Cruciatus curse, a person could easily go insane, and many have. It takes an incredibly strong willed person to be able to fight off the pain; most people who have been under the curse can't do it, because they are unable to think of anything but the agony the curse inflicts on them. You have to be able to at least accept, if not ignore, the pain, which I can assure you, is a very hard thing to do."

Patterson walked about around his desk and took out something from under it. Everybody leaned forward to see a jar with three spiders in it. Patterson opened the jar and took out one spider, putting it on his desk, where he scuttled away as fast as it could. The class blinked when it hit an invisible barrier on the desk and started climbing _up_ it, looking like it was climbing straight up thin air. Professor Patterson took out his wand and pointed it at the spider, muttering, " _Engorgio!"_ The spider grew and fell off the invisible wall in surprise. Then Professor Patterson closed his eyes, a pained expression on his face, and said, " _Crucio."_

The class watched in awed fear and morbid fascination as the spider began to jerk and twitch, rolling around on its back, writhing and flailing its legs. James was sure, in the part of his mind that was able to think, that the spider would have been screaming if it had been able. After another few seconds, Patterson lifted the curse, but the spider just lay there, occasionally twitching. Patterson shrunk the spider and put it back in the jar, where it was avoided by the other two.

"Very unpleasant curse, but very much favored by Voldemort and his Death Eaters," Patterson said calmly, and the class stared. _He said You-Know-Who's name!_ James thought in wonder as he stared at his professor with the rest of his class.

"You said You-Know-Who's name!" one of Lily's friends whispered, voicing the thoughts of everyone else in the room. The class jumped in surprise as Patterson only snorted.

"Is there any reason why I shouldn't?" Patterson replied sardonically, and the girl blinked.

"But...if you do, he'll come after you!" she squeaked.

"Been there, done that," Patterson murmured so quietly that James wasn't even sure he heard it. However, James didn't have time to ponder that statement before Patterson was speaking again. "It's just a name, Miss Jenson. Voldemort" everybody winced "has absolutely no way of knowing when you say his name, and if he did, he'd probably be glad that you were so afraid of him that you can't even say his name. Fear of a name increases fear of the thing itself."

Nobody said anything for awhile, so Patterson sighed. "Anyway...onto the Imperius curse. You already know what this is meant to do, so I'll just skip straight to the demonstration." He took out one of the other spiders and set in on the desk. It immediately started trying to run away, but apparently hit the same barrier the Cruciatus spider had. Patterson just fingered his wand and said, " _Imperio!_ "

The spider went into a series of jumps and backflips that it surely would have been unable to do had it not been controlled. Then it raised itself up on two of its legs and started dancing and twirling like a ballerina. A few of the Slytherins snickered, but a glare from the professor shut them up as he took his wand away and put the spider back in the jar.

"Remember, I'll be doing the exact same thing to you," Patterson warned ominously, and the Slytherins who snickered now looked a bit worried. "Now...who would like to tell us about the final Unforgivable?"

To James's surprise, it was Lily who raised her hand shakily into the air. Patterson raised an eyebrow before saying, "Miss Evans?"

"Avada Kedavra," Lily whispered, lowering her hand. Her bright green eyes stood out in her pale face as she looked straight at the professor, who looked at her searchingly. "The Killing Curse."

"Five points to Gryffindor, Miss Evans," Patterson said softly. He reached into the jar and took out the final spider, which seemed to realize its fate somehow as he tried frantically to free itself from the teacher's grasp. He set the spider down on the desk before closing his eyes and saying coldly, clearly, " _Avada Kedavra_."

There was a flash of bright green light, a sound of something rushing forward, and the light cleared to show the spider lying motionlessly on the desk, obviously dead. The professor took a deep breath as he picked the spider up and gently put it back in the jar.

"Avada Kedavra is impossible to block or reflect. Should you ever find yourself up against it, you will not survive. Your greatest defense against this curse is not getting hit with it in the first place, for if you are, there's nothing anyone can do to save you." The professor's deep brown eyes looked sad, wistfully regretful, and James found himself wondering if anyone the professor knew had been killed, before deciding that was a stupid thought; as so many people were being killed lately, it was nearly impossible to find someone who hadn't lost anyone. But the professor was speaking again, so James shook off his meanderings and listened closely.

"The three Unforgivables are curses that you need to be quite powerful to pull off effectively. I doubt that most of you, even in this stage of your education, would have the necessary power to pull one off. But you need more than just power to use an Unforgivable. You need intent. If you want to use the Cruciatus curse, you need to _want_ the person you're casting it on to suffer." Here Professor Patterson's eyes looked distant, as if remembering. "To use these curses, you need to know what you're doing, and you need to want to be doing it. For homework, just read up on the Unforgivables in your text book. Class dismissed."

The students stood up and slowly filed out of the room, most talking about the curses the professor had just shown them. James waved the others ahead of him and approached Lily, who was still seated, head drooping. He placed a comforting hand on her shoulder.

"Class is over now, Lily. Would you like to walk with me to Transfiguration?" James asked respectfully, knowing that something he had no idea of was going on in Lily's mind. A year ago, he might have pressed her, wanting to know what she was thinking about, but now he just waited. He knew she would tell him if she wanted him to know.

"Thank you, James. I would like that," Lily said softly, looking up at him and smiling. James smiled back as he stood back, letting her stand up and gather her stuff before they walked out together. They didn't even notice Professor Patterson watching them, smirking.


	5. Chapter 5

Harry's mind wandered as he absently taught about Red Caps to the third year Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws. He knew enough about the subject to answer questions even when he wasn't thinking about it; Red Caps lived in battlefields, and he'd been in plenty of _those_. So he let his mind wander, and it wandered right to the topic of his parents.

James was different from what he'd expected. He remembered the scene he saw in Snape's Pensieve way back in fifth year, but so far he hadn't seen any evidence of James being cruel. He thought back to his last class with James, and how the young Marauder had respectfully waited for Lily, and couldn't reconcile the James he saw in the Pensieve with the James he saw here; the James he had seen imperiously demanding Lily to go out with him against the James who courteously waited for the young woman. _Maybe it's being Head Boy this year,_ Harry mused. _A little responsibility will cause anyone to grow up. Or maybe it was the Whomping Willow incident, which would have been a year or so ago. Saving your rival's life because your best friend was an idiot could have shocked anyone into growing up._

And then there was Lily. He didn't know as much about Lily as he would have liked to; so far he knew that Lily was quiet and studious, would defend even those she didn't like from unnecessary cruelty, and that she had a reaction similar to his own about the Killing Curse. _Has she seen someone murdered? Her parents, maybe? She had to have lost her parents sometime before 1981_ , Harry thought, _because Aunt Petunia never took Dudley or me to see our grandparents, and they never came to see us. So unless they hated us--which is unlikely considering Petunia herself said they were proud of Lily, so they would have wanted to see me at least--I would have know them._

Harry's musings on his parents were interrupted as the bell rang and the third years streamed out of the room. Next he had second year Gryffindors and Slytherins, a class which included young Bill Weasley, which gave Harry a shock when he saw the name on the register. Bill was continuously fascinated by all the curses Harry had shown the class, and several times already Harry had caught Bill looking ahead in the text book for more advanced curses and countercurses. Already Harry could see the adventurous Gringotts cursebreaker in the cheerful second year Gryffindor.

Another couple days passed and slowly Harry relaxed, finally getting used to being a teacher. He found he liked it more than he had ever thought he would, even in the two years or so he had been the leader of the D.A. The D.A. was only a group he used to teach people curses and ways to defend themselves from Death Eaters, but the Defense Against the Dark Arts class was so much more than that. Through essays and class participation, Harry was able to begin to get to know his students in a way he hadn't know many of his D.A. members. The euphoria he felt when he helped a student understand, to _see_ all the information come together and just click, and _know_ that it was he who helped that student understand...not even the relief of beating Voldemort could beat the feeling of accomplishment he got when he was teaching. But soon came the class he was dreading; the seventh years, who he would now be putting the Imperius curse on. He'd be doing the same to the sixth years, but he didn't _know_ the sixth years the way he knew the seventh years. Or some of the seventh years, at least.

When the seventh years slowly filed into the room for the anticipated-yet-dreaded Imperius class, none of them talked, no one chatted idly about anything. When the bell rang and Harry stood up, every eye in the class swiveled towards him. He walked around to the front of his desk and surveyed the class grimly.

"I wish I didn't have to do this, you know," Harry said quietly. "But chances are you'll come face to face with this curse if you join the war once you graduate, and it is my job to teach you to defend against it. In order to defend against it, you must have it cast on you--very few people are able to cast it off, or even fight it, on their first try. But if you _can_ cast it off, you won't have to worry about someone using you to kill or torture your friends or family. People have come out from under this curse to find they'd done exactly that. And as I'm sure none of you want that to happen...could all of you please stand up and move to the front of the room?"

Eyeing each other nervously, all the students did as Harry asked. With one sweep of his wand, Harry pushed all the desks towards the walls, leaving a large space clear in the center of the room.

"I will call you up in alphabetical order, but don't worry, I won't make you do anything unduly embarrassing," Harry said, attempting a small joke, but no one even cracked a smile. Harry went straight to business. "Mr. Black!"

Sirius walked to the center of the space, and turned around, facing Harry. His eyes, bright blue and piercing, were focused on Harry, and Harry could see no trace of fear in them, only trust and determination. Harry took a deep breath, pointed his wand at Sirius, and said, " _Imperio._ "

A relaxed expression came over Sirius's face, and Harry ordered him to skip around the room, clapping his hands. Sirius's hands came up, and his legs started twitching with the effort of not following the order. Harry simply raised an eyebrow and exerted his will harder, slowly growing suspicious of something. Eventually, Sirius started skipping around the room, clapping his hands every few skips. The class just watched him, not even Severus Snape offering any derisive comments. Finally Harry took the curse off, and Sirius came to a stop, right in front of Harry's desk. He looked up and met Harry's eyes for a brief second before lowering his head a bit and moving back to join his classmates.

Harry called up the rest of the class, finally ending with Amelia Weathers, a tall, brown-haired Slytherin girl. He'd made Snape stand up on a desk singing Beatles songs, causing some of the Gryffindors to smirk, but none said anything. Peter Pettigrew he had pretend to be a bird, so he'd been walking around the center of the room, flapping his arms and cawing. Lily transfigured her shoes to tap shoes and tap danced on the desks. James jogged in place and did several stretches. So far the only person other than Sirius who had even begun to fight the curse had been Remus, and he'd just hesitated for several seconds before finally doing as the curse ordered and jumped on and off several chairs. With another sweep of his wand, Harry returned the desks to the center of the room, and the students sat down.

"Fighting the Imperius is hard," Harry said, perching on the end of his desk as the students watched him. "Mr. Potter, what did you feel while under the curse?"

James shifted nervously. "I...it was...it felt...odd. Happy, I suppose. Or maybe carefree is a better word. Like I had no problems, nothing to worry about, as long as I did what I was told." He flushed as several of his classmates looked at him.

"Good way of putting it, Mr. Potter. 'Nothing to worry about, as long as you do what you're told.' Mr. Black, I noticed you were fighting the curse a bit. What did that feel like?" Harry asked, and the class's attention switched from James to Sirius.

Sirius frowned. "It was like there were two voices inside my head, one telling me to do something, and the other telling me it was a stupid thing to do. They just argued with each other for a bit so I didn't do anything, but then the one telling me to do something got stronger and I just did it."

Harry nodded. "Two conflicting voices, one telling you to do something and one telling you not to. The first is the curse, and the second is your will. To truly defeat this curse, you must develop your will until it is stronger than the caster's. That's why this curse is so hard to defeat. Many people have strong wills, and Voldemort..." Harry shook his head slightly as everybody winced. "...Voldemort is strong. I hope that none of you ever have the misfortune of having him cast the Imperius on you."

"You sound like you speak from experience," Snape commented archly, and everyone looked at Snape, then back at Harry to see his reaction.

Harry raised an eyebrow. "Do I?" he asked, smiling slightly.

"You do," Snape said stubbornly, sitting back in his chair and folding his arms over his chest.

But Harry only continued smiling slightly. "Interesting," he replied. He then turned to the rest of the class. "Where was I? Ah yes. Fighting the Imperius curse is a battle of wills. Yours only needs to be stronger than the caster's for the second it takes to break the spell." Snape looked furious at Harry's neat sidestepping of his observation, but Harry completely ignored him.

"How do you develop your will?" Sirius asked eagerly.

Harry shrugged. "It's different for everyone, really. Some people never are able to resist the Imperius curse, and others already have strong enough wills that they can fight it almost as soon as it's cast on them. When my teacher first cast it on me, he told me to jump onto the desk. I both jumped and tried to keep myself from jumping, so I crashed headlong into the desk, and I woke up from the Imperius curse to a headache. He then insisted on casting the curse on me until I could throw it off entirely."

The class stared. After now having first-hand experience of how hard it was to fight the curse, they knew how impressive it was to be able to fight it successfully, especially on the first several tries. When the bell signaling the end of class rang, all the students jumped. They gathered their stuff and made their way out of the classroom, Marauders at the end.

"Mr. Black, could you stay behind a moment, please?" Harry called just as Sirius was about to walk out the door. He said something to his friends, who nodded and walked on. Sirius walked back into the room and put his stuff down, sitting on top of one of the desks.

"Yes, Professor?" Sirius said politely.

"Mr. Black, you're free to refrain from answering this, of course, but during your demonstration, I'd noticed something," Harry began as he sat down behind his desk, absently rubbing his scar. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Sirius stiffen. Harry continued, watching Sirius carefully. "It seemed almost as if...this was not the first time you've encountered this curse."

Sirius sat still, eyes wide, breathing a little heavily. Harry stood up, concerned. "You don't have to say anything--" Harry began, but Sirius interrupted him with a shake of his head.

"No, I--I trust you, Professor. I'm not entirely sure why, as I barely know you, but I trust you," Sirius offered Harry a quick smile, who returned it as he returned to his seat. "I'll tell you."

"What do you know of the Black family?" the question was so unexpected that Harry blinked. He wasn't sure of what to say, so he just started with what he generally knew from what Sirius had told him the summer before his fifth year.

"Ah...they're very into the whole pureblood issue. They don't like the Muggle-born or the people like werewolves or vampires. They're an old rich family and generally very proud of it," Harry said carefully. He knew that Sirius hated his family, but he didn't know how much of what the Blacks did was known to the public.

"That's not the least they are," Sirius said darkly, then sighed and ran his hand through his shoulder-length black hair. "Anyway, my family's Dark. They actually _agree_ with all the stuff that You-Know-Who--"

"Voldemort, Sirius," Harry interrupted, and Sirius winced. "Call him Voldemort. Remember what I said last class?"

" 'Fear of a name increases fear of the thing itself.' I'll try to keep that in mind, Professor," Sirius said, then continued. "They agree with the stuff that... _Voldemort_ is doing. And they think I should agree with it too."

"And you don't," Harry said with confidence. Sirius sighed again and nodded.

"I don't," he agreed. "But my parents, my mother especially, didn't like that. I remember how she sent me a Howler when I was Sorted into Gryffindor instead of Slytherin. I stayed at Hogwarts that Christmas, and when summer came she had to drag me back to that place. Darling brother Regulus was always her little angel because he's a nasty Slytherin purist just like the rest of them, and I was always her disappointment because I don't think all Muggle-borns and werewolves should be killed!"

Sirius was breathing hard as the words just kept pouring out of him. Harry listened to his babbling with growing sympathy. He knew Sirius's family life had been bad, but Harry's only contact with his godfather's mother had been her portrait, though that was bad enough.

"Mother always pretty much hated me," Sirius continued after taking several deep breaths to calm himself down. "She'd tell me to do something, and I, of course, wouldn't do it. She'd usually just settle for locking me in the cellar with the spiders for a day or so as punishment" Harry winced as he remembered his cupboard--though a cellar would be larger than a cupboard, and he didn't live in it, so Sirius had the advantage there "but last summer she apparently just got tired of me ignoring her orders. So, in an effort to teach me to 'do something useful', she cast the Imperius curse on me."

"Your own mother cast the Imperius on you?" Harry asked, feeling a bit sick. _I knew she was bad, but casting the_ Imperius _curse on her son...that's just horrible._

Sirius nodded, his face rather pale, his hands clenching each other tightly. "She cast the Imperius on me--then she took me Muggle-baiting. She'd have me do horrible things that I'd rather not talk about or I'll be sick, to the Muggles, and after weeks of being under the curse, I finally just--snapped, I suppose, one night. It felt like I woke up, all of a sudden, only I'd remembered everything she made me do...and I just couldn't stay there anymore. I had to get out, so I packed everything I had into my school trunk, shrunk it--my parents fixed it so the Ministry couldn't tell when someone was doing underage magic there--got on my broom, and flew to James's house. I told his family what happened, and I've been staying with them ever since."

"So you just sort of woke up, huh..." Harry mused, then sighed. "Well, that's better than many other wizards. Some of those currently in Voldemort's employ are under the Imperius curse, and have been for months, even years."

"But I don't want to take months or weeks or whatever to be able to break the curse!" Sirius exclaimed, jumping up and pacing around in front of Harry's desk. "I want to be able to break the curse _before_ I'm made to do anything horrible."

"You could have private lessons with me," Harry offered, and Sirius abruptly turned to face him, hope warring with fear on his face.

"You...really? You can make sure that I'll be able to break the curse?" Sirius asked slowly, as if making sure that that was what Harry was really saying.

Harry nodded, but just as Sirius broke into a wide grin, warned, "This will be dependant on you, of course. You're going to be the one working on breaking the curse. I'm just going to be the one providing the opportunity. It will be hard work."

"It'll be worth it!" Sirius replied fiercely. "I'm never going to fall victim to that curse again! Thank you, Professor!" With that, he grabbed his stuff and ran out of the classroom, undoubtedly to tell the Marauders.

"You're welcome, Sirius," Harry said quietly, long after the door had banged shut in the wake of Sirius's enthusiastic departure. "I'm just glad to be able to help."


	6. Chapter 6

Sirius slid into a seat next to Remus at lunch, where James stopped eating momentarily to ask, "What'd he want?"

Sirius beamed, wriggling in excitement and causing Remus to glare at him when he shook the table. "He's going to help me be able to break the curse! He said I can have private lessons with him!"

"Why did he do that?" asked Remus, the ever-practical. Sirius glared at him, mad at Remus for being pragmatic in spite of Sirius's jubilation.

"Well, first he said that it seemed like it hadn't been the first time I've come into contact with that curse," Sirius started explaining, and James blinked.

"He didn't make you tell him, did he? If he made you tell him..." James snarled, only aware that he was half-standing up when Sirius leaned over the table and forced him to sit down again.

"He didn't make me tell him. In fact, he told me I didn't have to tell him if I didn't want to. But I told him, because I trust him," Sirius said clearly, looking James straight in the eye. James blinked, looking at him incredulously. Sirius, the person who didn't trust anyone he didn't know well, was trusting someone they just met a couple weeks ago?

" _You_ trust him. _You_ trust a new teacher we know practically nothing about, except that he's obviously powerful enough to use the Unforgivables and to break the Imperius when he was fourteen? For all we know, he might be a Death Eater!" James exclaimed, but Sirius shook his head.

"He's not a Death Eater. He's on the side of the Light as much as you or I. I don't know how I know, but I do. There's just something about him...something that reminds me, strangely enough, of you, James..." Sirius said, and James blinked again.

"Reminds you of me?" James repeated, feeling like he was missing something. How did a teacher they barely knew remind Sirius of his best friend?

"It's hard to explain, but...there's just something about him that makes me think of you," Sirius explained. "Maybe it's because of his eyes--however brown they are, it seems like it's you looking back at me through them. Like your spirit or something. It's hard to explain."

"Maybe they're related," Peter suggested, after swallowing a gulp of pumpkin juice. His friends turned to look at him, and he flushed a bit. "Do you have any cousins with the last name of Patterson, James?"

"Not that I know of," James said slowly, mentally going over his family tree. "I don't think I've ever met any wizards with the last name of Patterson, so he might be Muggle-born. And besides, he's probably too old to be my cousin. He has that white streak in his hair, you know. He has to be old if his hair's already going white."

Remus shook his head. "White streak notwithstanding, I think he's rather young. _I'm_ only seventeen and I have gray streaks. I think he's probably rather close to our age."

"But you have gray streaks because of...you know! You aren't suggesting he's one too, are you?" James asked, and Remus shook his head.

"No, I'd know if he were. But still, he just seems young. Sometimes he seems older, but war can age anyone, I suppose, and we already know he's been through fighting," Remus explained patiently.

"But wouldn't we know him, if he's not that much older than us?" Peter asked. "I mean, we did know a lot of people older than us."

Remus shrugged. "I don't know, maybe he's from a different house, or maybe he didn't even go here. Hogwarts isn't the only wizarding school in the world, you know."

"I suppose you're right," James conceded, then turned to Sirius. "Sear, d'you think you could ask him for us?"

"Me?" Sirius asked, surprised. "Why me?"

"Because you're taking private lessons with him now, and we're not! It'll be easier for you to talk to him when there aren't so many other students around," James replied. Sirius nodded, his blue eyes thoughtful.

"Yeah, I suppose," Sirius agreed, then grinned suddenly. " 'Sides, it's only fair for me to ask him about his family, after I told him stuff about mine."

Just as the conversation turned to other things, James thought he heard Remus mutter, "Private lessons...for throwing off the Imperius..." He sounded thoughtful, and James blinked, wondering why he was talking about that, but then Remus laughed at one of Sirius's jokes, and James let it drift to the back of his mind.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

That night, as James was working on an essay for Charms, Sirius, who had been playing chess with Remus, came and sat down next to him, pulling out a blank roll of parchment, a quill, and several books.

"Defense assignment," Sirius said shortly, when James raised an eyebrow in inquiry. "Best to make a good impression on Patterson by doing the assignment well."

James, who was already mostly done with the assignment, nodded and smiled a bit, going back to work on his essay, though inwardly he was musing about Sirius's abrupt about-face regarding homework. Sirius's usual policy was to get it all done at the last minute so he'd have more time for planning pranks and other ways to torture the Slytherins and exasperate the teachers, so Sirius putting so much effort into an assignment for _any_ class was a bit of a surprise. Sure, Sirius always did well in his class; he had natural talent and the intrinsic knowledge of how to use it, but he didn't typically 'wear himself out'--as he put it--doing homework when there were other things to do. What _was_ there about the Defense professor that sparked this new desire to do well in that class? Suddenly incredibly curious, James rolled up his parchment and stood up, resolving to go and talk to the professor.

Sirius looked up as James stood up. "Going somewhere?" he asked, and James racked his mind for a plausible lie. He didn't want to tell his best friend that he was going to Professor Patterson to talk about Sirius, after all.

"Going to the kitchens. I rather fancy an �clair right now," James said, and Sirius nodded before going back to his essay.

"Bring one back for me, will you?" he said, and James nodded before going upstairs and getting out the Marauder's Map. He decided not to take the Invisibility Cloak, as the fewer teachers who knew about that, the better, and he figured his Head Boy badge would be enough to discourage anyone from giving him detention. He could just claim that he was patrolling the halls, as it wasn't _that_ late yet.

He stuffed the Map in his pocket and made sure that his Head Boy badge was placed where everyone could see it before leaving Gryffindor Tower. He walked a few hallways down and made sure that no one was around before he pulled out the Map, taking out his wand and softly saying the password.

From the point where his wand touched the Map, spidery lines branched out until they formed words, and then the map of the castle itself. James gave it a cursory glance, making sure that there was no one between him and the Defense office, where he was reasonably sure the professor was, but just in case...he looked over the part of the Map where the Defense office was, and saw that there was indeed a name there. But just as he was about to put away the Map, his eyes widened when he saw what exactly that name was.

_Harry Potter._

His mind completely blanked out in surprise, James stood stock still for several minutes, unable to take his eyes off the dot that proclaimed someone in his family was in the castle. _But I don't know any Potters named Harry...and where's Professor Patterson? Why is this Harry Potter in Professor Patterson's office?_ James thought as soon as his mind started up again. But he figured the only way to know would be to go find out, so he set off, still carefully watching the Map to make sure that no one was coming his way, and the make sure that the dot labeled Harry Potter did not go anywhere.

James arrived in front of the Defense office and wiped the Map, stuffing it back in his pocket. He stood there, looking at the door for a while, before steeling himself and knocking. He was surprised when the voice of his professor called, "Come in," and he frantically took the Map out and whispered the password, then shook his head in confusion. Harry Potter was currently the only one in the Defense office, so why had he heard Professor Patterson's voice? He was just wiping the Map again when the door opened, and James forgot about putting the Map away as he stared at the man in front of him.

He looked nearly exactly like Professor Patterson, but this man was wearing glasses, had bright green eyes of a shade James had only seen on Lily Evans, and from under his fringe James could see the outline of an oddly shaped scar.

"Mr. Potter?" asked the voice of his professor, but James could do nothing but gape at him.

Finally James gathered himself together enough to blurt, "Are you related to Lily Evans?" Even as James berated himself for the unexpected question, the man stiffened, and slowly brought his hand up to his face, swearing when he touched his glasses.

"Oh bloody hell..." he muttered, then held the door wide open. "Might as well come in, James. Sit down." James was still so surprised that he just walked straight in and sat down in a chair in front of a desk cluttered with papers. James barely noticed that he still had the Map clutched tightly in his fist.

The man--Harry Potter? Professor Patterson?--sat down behind the desk, sighed, and steepled his fingers. "I can't answer all your questions, James," he began, but James interrupted him.

"Are you Professor Patterson?" James asked, and the man nodded. "Why are you calling yourself that?"

The professor looked confused. "What do you mean?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Your real name is Harry Potter, isn't it?" James asked, eyes focused on his teacher. He didn't even notice the perch near the window, on which slept a bird similar to the one in the Headmaster's office.

"How did you--" Patterson's eyes narrowed, then widened as he saw the parchment crumpled in James's fist. "Ah. The Marauder's Map. I should have known."

Now James was really confused. "But...how did you know about our Map? We only finished it last year, and we haven't told anyone about it yet. And if your surname is Potter, why are you saying it's Patterson? And if you are a Potter, why don't I know you?"

The professor sighed. "Yes, my name is Harry Potter," he admitted reluctantly. "But you don't know me because I haven't been born yet."

"What do you--oh," James's eyes widened at the realization. "You're from the future." _From the future! Merlin...I wonder how he got here and why he's here. And who his parents are. And how old he is. It'd be weird if he was older than me, and he's not even born yet..._

"Guilty as charged," Harry Potter agreed, smiling a bit ruefully. "But I couldn't let someone know I was a Potter, or they'd be clamoring to know what relation I am to you, and you'd want to know why you'd never met me before...and it would all be a big mess."

"Well, what relation are you to me?" James couldn't help asking. Harry Potter laughed softly.

"I'm your son," he said, and James stared. _My...son? My SON? This...is so incredibly weird. I wonder who the mother is...wait...those eyes...that means..._

"YES!" James yelled suddenly, jumping up and dancing around his chair. Harry Potter looked startled, then looked like he was wondering if James had gone mad. Over by the window, the bird lifted its head up to see the commotion, but James was so busy with his victory dance that he didn't notice.

"Ah...James? Mind telling me what you're so happy about?" the other Potter asked tentatively, brilliant emerald eyes wide behind his glasses. James stopped dancing and sat down in the chair again, grinning widely.

"Your eyes!" he exclaimed. "Those are Lily Evans's eyes! If you have Lily Evans's eyes, then she must be your mother, which means she married me, which means she'll have agreed to go out with me! I've been asking her for _years_ now, and it's _wonderful_ to see that she finally will! YES!"

Harry was still looking at James as if he'd gone mad, but soon the corners of his mouth began to twitch and he started to chuckle softly. The chuckle soon became a full-fledged laugh, which had Harry bent over his desk, tears streaming down his face as he laughed. James soon joined in and both Potters laughed as neither had for years.

"This...is so weird!" James gasped as he fought for control over his laughter. Harry sat up, still wheezing a bit, grinning.

" _You_ think it's weird? You have no idea how _odd_ it is to see your father when he's your age! If I cut my hair, it would go back to its normal mess, and we could pass for twins! Well, except for the eyes, of course, and the white streak," Harry said, and James blinked.

"My age? You're _my_ age? As in seventeen?" James asked incredulously, and Harry nodded. "But then why are you teaching, if you're only seventeen?"

Harry winced. "Ah, that's a very long story. I can't really tell you without giving away too much of the future, and that could change it. I'd really rather not cause a paradox."

"Okay...then can you tell me why you have a white streak in your hair if you're only seventeen?" James asked instead. Harry sighed and pulled the streak of white in front of him, then let it fall back into the folds of his hair.

"Stress," Harry said simply. "Along with a great deal of magic usage in a small amount of time, but I believe stress was the main factor."

"Stress?" James blinked again. "What could a seventeen year old be doing that's so incredibly stressful that they get white hairs?"

"I can't answer that," Harry replied.

James exhaled noisily. "Ah well. Hmmm...Remus will be glad to know he was right about you..."

Harry sat straight up in his chair, his eyes suddenly hard emerald as he pinned James to his chair with his piercing gaze. "Right about me how?"

"When he said you seemed more like our age, despite the white streak. We were talking about you after Sirius told us you were going to help him with the whole Imperius thing, and Remus insisted that you were young," James answered. Harry relaxed a bit and he looked away, his eyes softening a bit. James relaxed too as that green gaze left him. _Reminds me a bit of Dumbledore and how he always seems to be able to look through you,_ James thought. Then he decided to ask more. "So...how far in the future are you from? What are Lily and I like? And Sirius, Remus, and Peter? What kind of jobs do we have? Is You-Know-Who still around?"

"I'm not supposed to give anything away about the future," Harry said, looking a bit annoyed at all the questions. James frowned a bit. _He can't tell me anything!_ he complained to himself, but was careful not to say it out loud. Son or not, from the future or not, Harry was still his teacher, and pissing off a teacher was not a good thing to do.

"James..." James looked up to find Harry's eyes fixed on him again, and he gulped. "Where were you going before you decided to come see me?"

James frowned more, his brow furrowing a bit. "I actually was coming to see you in the first place, because I wanted to talk to you about Sirius, and see if I could trust you casting the Imperius curse on him, though now that I know you're my son, you're definitely trustworthy!" James laughed a bit, but Harry didn't. It seemed like Harry was waiting for something else, so James continued, "But I told Sirius--by the way, are Sirius and I still best friends?--that I was going to the kitchens for an �clair and that I'd bring one back for him."

"Ah. I see," Harry ignored his question and turned away, towards the window, trilling something. James turned in time to see the candlelight glint off something golden before whatever-it-was flew towards the desk, landing on Harry's outstretched arm. Once he could see clearly what it was, James gaped. _How the HELL did Harry--my son--end up with a phoenix? I thought only Professor Dumbledore had one of those!_

"This is Hikari," Harry told James, softly stroking Hikari's feathers. Hikari trilled and reached up, nuzzling Harry's neck before hopping off his arm, soaring a bit until she was sitting on James's lap. James sat stock still, afraid to move because he didn't want to upset the golden creature on his lap. He glanced up, about to ask how Harry had gotten a phoenix, but then he met Harry's piercing emerald stare for a second before lowering his eyes to the phoenix before him, his throat suddenly dry. Hikari looked up, and James's hazel eyes met the golden ones of the phoenix. Then he knew no more.


	7. Chapter 7

Harry sat back down behind his desk after letting James go on to the kitchens, Hikari a comforting weight in his lap.

"I wish he hadn't figured it out," Harry told the phoenix softly, who trilled in reply. "At least you're capable of undetectable Memory Charms...it's bad enough that Albus, Minerva, and Filius know, but they're adults and capable of understanding the full ramifications of time travel. James is young, and he was already so curious even though he must have known I wouldn't really be able to tell him anything, he could slip up and reveal me to someone..." Harry stopped talking as he realized that he was just trying to justify it to himself.

"Why does life have to have so many hard decisions?" Harry asked aloud, not expecting an answer, and not surprised when he didn't get one. He looked down and smiled softly, rubbing his knuckle gently on Hikari's head. The phoenix cuddled closer, pushing her head into Harry's hand, and Harry sighed.

"At least now I remember the Marauder's Map...almost can't believe I forgot about it, after having it for over four years now. Good thing Remus taught me that charm to disguise my name...now at least I won't have to deal with another confrontation with the Marauders...but you know, I really wish I could have just let James know...but that would have led to awkward questions that I just can't answer..." Harry sighed again.

"Not that I wouldn't have loved to answer all his questions," Harry admitted to himself. "I would have loved to warn him about what's going to happen...to have grown up with him and Mum, because dammit, I like them. And I wouldn't have been the Boy Who Lived...but then Voldemort would have taken so many more lives...and I can't be selfish. Telling them what's going to happen so that it doesn't would be selfish, so I can't...but I'd like to." Hikari reached up and nuzzled his cheek with her head, wordlessly assuring him that he was not alone.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

The next day, after Harry had finished his dinner and was just walking out the doors of the Great Hall, out of the corner of his eye he saw Sirius Black hurrying over to him from the Gryffindor table. He stopped just before the doors and waited for Sirius to reach him.

"Professor...?" Sirius asked hesitantly. Harry smiled reassuringly.

"Yes, Mr. Black?"

Sirius swallowed. "Can we talk somewhere?"

Harry raised an eyebrow. Why would Sirius want to talk to him alone? Or was it about those Imperius lessons? "Of course, Mr. Black. But won't your friends be missing you?"

Sirius shook his head. "I already finished my dinner and I've just been waiting for you to finish yours. I'll meet up with them in the common room later."

"Very well then; we'll go to my classroom," Harry said. He didn't want to bring one of James's friends to his office since last night in case there was some clue or something, so the classroom would be just as well. _I don't care if I'm being paranoid, being paranoid has saved my life. Never mind that we're in Hogwarts and Voldemort isn't trying to get to me. Besides, the classroom's closer._

The two walked down the nearly empty corridors in silence. Every once in a while, Harry would glance at Sirius, but Sirius only looked straight ahead, a carefully blank expression on his face. Harry wondered what kind of thoughts were going around behind Sirius's blue eyes. Finally, they reached the classroom. Harry unlocked the door, opening it and waving his young student inside before going in himself and closing the door.

"What can I do for you, Mr. Black?" Harry asked politely after seating himself in his favorite spot, on the edge of the desk. Sirius remained standing, even after Harry's invitation to sit down.

"I was just wondering, Professor...when are we going to get to those anti-Imperius lessons? I just have this really odd feeling..." Sirius trailed off. Harry looked at him sharply, but Sirius, lost in his thoughts, didn't seem to notice.

"What feeling?" Harry prodded when Sirius didn't continue with his sentence.

"It's...kind of hard to explain," Sirius said slowly, as if searching for the best words. "It's just a feeling that I'm going to need to be able to throw off the Imperius curse, and soon, or something very, _very_ bad could happen."

"Do you have any idea as to when 'soon' might be, Mr. Black?" Harry asked.

Sirius shook his head. "I think sometime within the next several years, but I'm not sure," he said, rubbing his forehead as if he had a headache. "But I'd like to be able to throw it off as soon as possible, just in case."

Harry nodded. "I understand, Mr. Black. Unfortunately, tonight there's a staff meeting, in..." he looked at his watch "...about ten minutes. How about we meet here tomorrow night at eight?"

Sirius nodded. "That would be fine. Thank you, Professor," he said, granting Harry a brief smile before heading out the door. Harry sat and watched him go, thinking about what Sirius had just said.

Was Sirius some sort of a Seer? The Sirius he'd known hadn't exhibited any such traits, but he'd only met his godfather a few times before his death, and they'd never really had time to talk, just talk. But if Sirius was a Seer, then how had he not Seen Peter's betrayal and his own imprisonment? Harry shook his head in confusion. _I don't suppose I'll ever understand the Sight,_ Harry thought. _I'll just be glad I don't have it. Things would have been bad enough without seeing the future, especially with Voldemort already trying to feed me visions. Well,_ he decided, _if Sirius is some sort of Seer, I'll just have to wait and see if he gets anything more. Then we can do something._

 

 

 

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The next class Harry had with the seventh year Gryffindors and Slytherins was also the first time Harry had seen James since the night he found out. Harry sat behind his desk as he waited almost apprehensively for the Head Boy to come in, but he found that he needn't have worried. James walked in, talking and laughing with his friends, and sat down at his customary desk showing no signs of knowing anything different about his teacher. Harry breathed a quick sigh of relief and looked around, noting that so far, only Snape was still missing. When he went to the door and looked in the hallway, seeing no sign of Snape, he just shrugged and turned back. Out of the corner of his eye he thought he saw Remus Lupin watching him, but when he looked straight at the seventh year prefect, he saw Remus joking around with Sirius.

The bell rang, and Snape still hadn't appeared, but Harry decided to start class anyway. "I assigned you your for homework assignment two weeks ago," Harry said. "It's due today, but does anyone have any questions?"

A blond Slytherin boy raised his hand, and Harry nodded to him. "Ah, Professor," he began, speaking nervously, "I know you said we had to come up with ways to use each spell in a Defense situation, but what if there's a spell you can't?"

"Every spell can be used in a battle situation," Harry replied. "What spell were you having trouble with?"

"Well, the Cheering Charm, sir," the Slytherin answered. "I just don't understand how a spell used to make people more cheerful could help in the middle of a battle."

Harry looked over the rest of the class. "Did anyone else come up with a use for the Cheering Charm?" he asked, and Lily Evans raised her hand. "Miss Evans."

"You can use it to distract your opponents," Lily said, lowering her hands. "During battles, people have to concentrate on what they're casting. If you cast a Cheering Charm on someone, they're too busy being happy and cheerful to keep their mind on the battle."

"Good job, Miss Evans. Five points to Gryffindor," Harry said, and Lily smiled.

"Okay, but what about transfigurations?" one of Lily's friends asked. "How can being able to transfigure something help in a fight?"

"Does anyone want to answer this?" Harry asked. Nobody raised their hand, but just as Harry was about to continue, the door burst open and Snape walked in, smirking.

"Ah, Mr. Snape. So good of you to finally grace us with your presence," Harry said. "Mind telling us why you are late?"

"I was talking to Professor Brewster," Snape said promptly, naming the Slytherin Head of House and Potions teacher. Harry crossed his arms.

"Did Professor Brewster provide you with a pass?" he asked, and Snape lost his smirk, shaking his head. "Well then, ten points from Slytherin, Mr. Snape. Please let Professor Brewster know that the next time he wants to detain one of my students, he's going to have to provide the student with a pass back to class proving that student was actually with him. Does anyone care to tell Mr. Snape what we were just discussing?"

"We were talking about that first homework," Sirius volunteered, smirking at Snape. Snape looked sour at being told what was going on by Sirius. "Professor Patterson was just about to tell us how we can effectively use transfigurations in a battle situation."

"Unless Mr. Snape would like to answer that for me, of course," Harry cut in courteously, but Snape shook his head, scowling. "No? Well then, transfigurations can be useful in that they can give you the element of surprise. Does anyone know what I mean?"

"Oh!" James exclaimed, and everyone looked at him. "I understand! If you transfigure something into an animal or something, then have the animal attack! No one would expect something like that."

"Very creative plan, Mr. Potter. Five points to Gryffindor," Harry praised, and James looked smug. "Any other ideas?"

"It doesn't even have to be an animal," Snape said suddenly, and James glared at him. Snape gave him a frosty glare back, and continued. "You can transfigure something into a physical weapon. Most wizards expect to be attacked magically and are usually unprepared to deal with a physical attack."

"Very good, Mr. Snape. Five points to Slytherin," Harry said, and now Snape looked smug. James and Sirius glared at him, but ignored him other than that. "Does anyone have any other questions or concerns dealing with this homework?"

Remus raised his hand, and Harry nodded at him. He lowered it and said, "Ah, Professor, are we going to be getting this back soon? I mean, as I learn more spells I'd like to add them to this list. It seems like a very good way to prepare for N.E.W.T.s."

Harry smiled at Remus. _Ever the studious one, aren't you, Professor Lupin? You don't have anything to worry about,_ Harry thought fondly about his favorite Defense professor. "I will be getting them back to you as soon as possible, Mr. Lupin. It was my aim to have this assignment be a way to help you study for N.E.W.T.s, as well as to get you in a proper mindset for defending yourself once you leave school, if you're ever in a position where you need to defend yourself. It would also likely help you if you keep adding spells this year as you learn them. But I can't promise you any specific dates for when I get it back to you, just that I'll try and make it as soon as possible."

"That's good. Thank you, Professor," Remus said, nodding thoughtfully.

"Anything else?" Harry asked. Nobody said anything, so Harry collected the assignment and left it in a pile on his desk. "Now for the rest of this class period, I want you to read chapters one through five in your textbook, with summaries of each chapter to be handed in to me next class." Harry sat down, and the class got to work.

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"This is really hard!" Sirius complained, flopping down in a chair out of the way of the cleared circle of desks and closing his eyes. Harry watched him brush his hair out of his face. It was about the third time that Sirius had unsuccessfully tried to fight the Imperius.

"It is," Harry agreed. "But I told you it would be. Practically the only thing harder than shaking off the Imperius is shaking off the Cruciatus."

Sirius eyed his professor dubiously. "Is...are you speaking from...personal experience?" Sirius asked hesitantly, as he obviously remembered how Harry had brushed off Snape when he asked nearly the same thing.

Harry sighed, perching on the edge of his desk again. "I am," he said quietly, "but I'd rather you didn't go bandying that about. I'd rather most people didn't know of some of my...talents."

"But why?" Sirius asked. "I mean, wouldn't it be an advantage, to be known as powerful enough to shake off Unforgivables?"

Harry smiled thinly. "First of all, power has nothing to do with it. I could be a Squib and it's possible that I could shake off the Imperius and Cruciatus. It's not magical power that helps you defy these curses, it's will power that's the key. The Imperius is easier because you just have to work through that peaceful feeling. With the Cruciatus, you have to ignore the most excruciating pain you've ever felt in your life. And unlike with other pain curses, the level of pain the Cruciatus holds you at does not subside as time goes on. It stays the same, or even increases, until the curse is lifted. Working through that level of pain is not something many people can do."

"Hunh," Sirius said, considering a bit. "That makes sense, I suppose. What's second of all?"

Harry grinned. "If someone doesn't know my abilities, then they can underestimate me. It's so much easier to get away from Voldemort if he's underestimating you."

Sirius's eyes grew wide. "You got away from _You-Know-Who?_ " he whispered, impressed. Harry snickered, to Sirius's obvious surprise. _If his eyes get any wider, they'll pop right out of his head!_

"It was over a year ago the last time I escaped, but he never seems to understand that I can work through whatever curse he throws at me," Harry explained. "And call him Voldemort, Sirius. Every time you flinch from his name, he wins just a little bit more."

"Yes sir," Sirius replied, blinking. Harry knew Sirius could do it; he said the name in his own time, and he'd said it back when Harry first offered these lessons. Harry knew it was only a matter of time before Sirius really lost his fear of the name, so until then, they would work on this as well as the Imperius.

"So say it for me," Harry said, grinning and crossing his arms over his chest.

"Sir?" _Geez, it's weird to be thought of as 'Sir'. Wonder if I should break that habit...nah, need to promote respect for professors and all that...oh well. At least he's here with me now..._

"Say 'Voldemort' for me, Sirius," Harry said patiently, pushing all thoughts of his godfather gone to the back of his mind, concentrating only on _this_ Sirius. "It's not that hard."

"But..." Sirius shot a pleading look at Harry, but Harry ignored it. _He needs to learn, and there's no other way to learn this lesson than to do it._

"Just think of this as building up your will," Harry suggested. "If you can force yourself to say Voldemort consistently, then you'll be increasing your will power."

"Right." Now Sirius had a familiar determined look in his eyes. He took a deep breath. "V-Voldemort."

Harry grinned, proud of his student. "Good. Now say it again."

"Voldemort." This time without hesitation or stuttering. Harry got that happy feeling of accomplishment in his chest again, and knew again that being a teacher was worth it, even looking at this determined young man and knowing what would happen to him just several years from now.

"Speaking of throwing off curses..." Sirius said suddenly, "I think Remus would benefit from these lessons. I mean, what with his...wait. You _do_ know about his problem, right? Dumbledore told you, right?" Sirius was clearly afraid that he had betrayed Remus again, and Harry was glad to allay his fears.

"His lycanthropy, you mean?" Harry asked, and Sirius nodded, relieved. Harry bit his lip, thinking. "That...might be a good idea. It would be...good for him to know that some things can be fought, even against all odds. Good idea, Sirius."

"Thank you, sir," Sirius said, grinning. "I'm sure Remus will love the idea. He's always hated the thought of losing control. That's why he wasn't very enthusiastic with your Imperius lesson in class. But I know that if he can learn to throw it off too, he won't be so afraid of himself anymore."

"That's some very good insight, Sirius. I'll approach Remus later about studying with us. Now..." Harry said, jumping off his desk and holding out his wand, "...back to work!" Sirius groaned.

"Yes, sir," he grumbled good-naturedly. "Whatever you say." He stood up and went into the center of the cleared desks, waiting for Harry to cast the curse on him again. And when it came, Sirius fought it, keeping everything his professor said in mind. Harry knew, with the kind of determination that Sirius had, he would soon have no problem getting rid of the Imperius, no matter how strong the caster.


	8. Chapter 8

"L-Lily?" James asked, silently cursing his stuttering as he waited for Lily to turn around and acknowledge him. She paid him no mind as she finished up telling the fifth year prefects where they were supposed to patrol that night. Only when she was done and sent them off did she turn around to regard James with those cool emerald eyes.

"Yes, James?" she asked politely, neutrally. James raised a hand to run through his hair before he caught himself and lowered it, grinning sheepishly. Lily raised an eyebrow.

"I was just wondering...you know how the Hogsmeade weekend's coming up?" James started, shifting around a bit.

"Considering that was one of the topics we talked about at this meeting, yes, I know," Lily replied, clearly amused at James's nervousness.

"Er, right. Well, anyway, I was wondering...would you like to come with me?" he finished in a rush, looking at Lily expectantly for her answer.

Lily sighed and rolled her eyes. "Why should I go with you now, if I've never wanted to go with you before?" she asked tiredly. James grinned. Every time he asked her out, she asked him why she should go with him, and he always replied something about she got a chance to be close to Gryffindor's star Quidditch player, or something else along those lines, but this time, James had a new reply lined up. A very clever reply. One that she surely couldn't refuse. Well, he hoped not, in any case.

"So you can have a chance to get to know me beyond just the stupid prat in your year," James replied immediately, and was gratified by Lily's startled look. _She's surprised! Maybe it will work after all..._ "And...the chance for me to get to know you beyond the rule-abiding prefect-turned-Head Girl. I'd like the chance," James finished up shyly. "To get to know you better, I mean."

Lily stared at him, wide-eyed and surprised. "If I didn't know better, I'd say responsibility has actually deflated your head a bit," Lily commented lightly, then shook her head, smiling slightly. "But all right. I'll go to Hogsmeade with you."

James's jaw dropped. _Even with the new answer, I thought she'd refuse me for sure!_ he thought dazedly. "You--you will?" he asked, just to make sure. Lily nodded, and James grinned. _She will! She'll actually go out with me!_ James whooped, hugged Lily tightly, then let go and ran off to tell Sirius, Lily standing in the same place he left her, watching him bemusedly, wondering just what she was getting herself into.

"Sirius! SIRIUS!" he yelled once he got into the common room and saw Sirius sitting at their table with Remus and Peter, talking. He was obviously entertaining them with a story, as he was gesticulating wildly, which Sirius always did to "illustrate" whatever story he was telling. But James didn't care about that right now. He ran over, and all three of his friends looked up.

"Geez, James, what is it?" Sirius asked, sitting back in his chair, giving up his story-telling for finding out what his best friend was so excited for.

"I asked Lily Evans out!" James exclaimed. "And she said yes!"

Sirius shook his head. "Jamie-boy, you have to stop setting yourself up for disappointment...wait a minute. She said _yes?_ " Sirius repeated suddenly, shooting straight up off his chair in surprise. Remus and Peter laughed, and Sirius glared at them. James nodded happily.

"I asked her to go to Hogsmeade with me, and I told her I'd like to get to know her better, and I'd like for her to get to know me, and she said she'd go with me!" James was very excited. So excited, in fact, that he was unable to stand still, fairly bouncing in place in his enthusiasm. Remus laughed and clapped a hand to James's shoulder.

"Congratulations, Prongs," Remus said sincerely, and James grinned.

"Well, if James has a date with Lily, and Pete has a date with Jen, I guess that means it's just the two of us bachelors, Moony," Sirius said, slinging an arm around Remus's shoulder. Remus rolled his eyes and shrugged off Sirius's arm. Sirius just shrugged and grinned. "Aww, our widdle Prongsie is all grown up and asking girls out," Sirius crooned, sniffing and wiping away a pretend tear. Remus and Peter snickered, but James didn't even notice.

"Lily Evans is going to go out with me..." James said dreamily, completely ignoring what his friends were saying. The other three looked at each other worriedly. James was letting Sirius tease him about Lily?

"Jimmie-boy has lost it," Sirius announced. Remus and Peter nodded in agreement. "To get our fellow Marauder out of Lily-land, we must drag him upstairs and plan pranks!" Remus and Peter nodded again, and James came back to himself.

"Drag me upstairs?" James asked amusedly. "Padfoot, you couldn't drag me upstairs if you were as strong as Moony here!"

"Is that a challenge?" Sirius asked, an odd glint in his eye. James just raised an eyebrow and smirked. Sirius caught Remus's eye, and they both smiled evilly. James only had enough time to lose the smirk and begin backing away before Sirius and Remus stood up and tackled him, easily picking him up and carrying him upstairs, a laughing Peter following and the rest of the common room grinning amusedly at the latest antics of the Marauders.

And once they got up there...well, Snape would certainly be very unhappy with them soon. Though Sirius insisted it would improve the greasy Slytherin's looks, the other three boys couldn't muffle their snickers at their latest daring plan to embarrass their least favorite student.

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"Er...where would you like to go first?" James asked. He and Lily were standing on the main street of Hogsmeade.

"Where would _I_ like to go?" Lily repeated, and James nodded. He wasn't about the ruin this date by being an egotistical jerk. Lily bit her lip and looked around. "How about Honeydukes first?"

"Honeydukes it is, then!" James replied enthusiastically, grabbing Lily's hand and heading off in the direction of Honeydukes. After going only a couple feet, James realized that he still held Lily's hand, and dropped it, blushing and muttering an apology. Lily looked amused.

They entered Honeydukes, waving hello to Peter and Jennifer, who were in the exotic tastes section, laughing over blood pops and cockroach clusters. James immediately went for the Every Flavor Beans and the Fizzing Whizbees, his favorite candies. Lily wandered over to the sugar quills, picking them up and looking at the flavors they were supposed to be. James, after picking up several packets of Every Flavor Beans and Fizzing Whizbees, walked over to where Lily was.

"Do you want any of them?" he asked her, and she pursed her lips.

"I can't decide between strawberry banana, kiwi, and cherry," Lily said.

"Why not get all three?" James said, and Lily looked at him. "My treat."

Lily smiled at him, and James smiled back, feeling warm. "Thank you," Lily said, and the warm feeling increased.

"No problem," James muttered, flushing a bit. He grabbed the sugar quills Lily wanted, taking them and his candies up to the counter, where he paid for them. Then he joined Lily again, and they left Honeydukes.

"Would you like to go get a butterbeer and the Three Broomsticks?" James asked once they were outside, and Lily nodded. They set off for the Three Broomsticks, choosing a small table in the corner near the front window once they got inside. James left and got two tankards of butterbeer and went back to his table, stopping quickly to say hello to Hagrid and Professor Patterson, who were chatting merrily about dragons at a table near the bar. At the sight of Professor Patterson, James got a prickling feeling in the back of his head, like he forgot something, but since he couldn't think of what he forgot, he just ignored it and walked on. Once he got to his own table, he sat down and handed one of the tankards to Lily, who accepted it with a small smile.

"So..." Lily said, taking a small sip.

"Er..." James said, frantically trying to think of something to say. Silence fell, and then James blurted out, "What's your family like?"

Lily sat back, coolly considering James through those green eyes. James fidgeted under her direct gaze, wondering what she was looking for, before she apparently found it, nodding decisively before speaking.

"My parents are great," Lily said quietly, so that James had to lean forward a bit to hear her. "They've always supported my being a witch, once they learned that the letter wasn't a joke. They're rather fascinated with the wizarding world." Lily smiled fondly before her expression darkened. "My sister, on the other hand, is...unsupportive, to say the least. She's three years older than I am, and while we were rather close before first year, once we knew I was a witch, she started being rather mean. I've always thought she was jealous."

"Of you, for being a witch?" James asked. Lily shook her head.

"No, Petunia's always been happy in the Muggle world...I think maybe she was jealous of the wizarding world, for taking me away. Once I made it clear that this was my home now...Petty got very bitter," Lily replied thoughtfully. "And the death of my mother by Death Eaters didn't exactly help."

James nodded, trying to look sympathetic. He knew Lily's mother had been killed by Death Eaters two years ago, as a protest for a Muggle-born witch becoming a prefect, but he didn't know anything about her sister. He was glad she decided to talk to him.

"What about you?" Lily asked. "What's your family like?"

James took a sip of his butterbeer, glad that Lily was at least interested in him enough to continue the conversation. "I'm an only child," James said. "The Potters are a very old wizarding family, and we've always been on the side of the Light, which has gotten dangerous lately. My dad's an Auror, and he's had some pretty close calls. But I've never had a sibling to talk to or anything, so I was glad when Sirius came to live with us last summer."

"Sirius came to live with you?" Lily asked in surprise. "Why?"

"He ran away from home," James replied succinctly. He hoped Lily didn't ask much more, because he wasn't about to betray Sirius's secrets, even for the girl he liked. Or at least, he wouldn't tell her about the whole Imperius deal.

Neither James nor Lily noticed Regulus Black and his Slytherin friends, who were sitting a table near them, lean in closer to hear what they were talking about.

Lily narrowed her eyes. "What's his family like, then, that he had to run away?" she asked, and James sighed.

"How much do you know about the Blacks?" James asked her. Lily looked thoughtful for a moment.

"I remember how back in first year, everybody seemed so surprised that he was Sorted into Gryffindor, though I couldn't figure out why that was. Sirius is obvious Gryffindor material, after all," Lily said, and James chuckled mirthlessly.

"Everyone was so surprised because the Blacks are...very Slytherin. Pretty much every Black, with a few exceptions, for the last thousand years has been Slytherin, and for good reason, too," James explained. "Did you never wonder why Sirius hated Slytherins so much?"

"Well, all of you seem to hate the Slytherins," Lily retorted, but James could tell she was curious.

"Remus doesn't really hate anybody, I'm not sure he's even capable of it, and Peter's just afraid of them. I'm against many of their ideals, but Sirius..." James shook his head. "Sirius has had first-hand experience of everything a Slytherin is from the moment he was born, but...Sirius is the white sheep in the Black family." Lily rolled her eyes, but still listened closely. "There are a couple others around, like his cousin Andromeda and his uncle Alphard, but both of them were Ravenclaws, and as such still acceptable to the Blacks. Brains and research are a reasonable second choice to cunning and ambition. But as you said, Sirius is obvious Gryffindor material. And his family recognized that."

James took another sip of his butterbeer, watching Lily. She was looking into her butterbeer as if it held all the answers if only she could find them. She looked up and raised an eyebrow at James, obviously inviting him to continue. So he did.

"Sirius, from the time he could talk, was always questioning their ideals, and his relatives hated him for it. He'd ask them things like 'How are Muggles so different from wizards?' and 'Why shouldn't werewolves be treated fairly?' His family couldn't stand that. They saturated him with pureblood superiority, and even as a child, Sirius could tell that that kind of thinking was wrong. But any voicing of his thoughts earned him...punishments. His family calls themselves 'the noble and most ancient house of Black', and their motto is ' _toujours pur_ ', which is 'always pure' in French. They're just as bad as the Malfoys with the whole pureblood issue." James knew that Lily knew about the Malfoys, since he could remember her being bullied by Lucius Malfoy their first year for being Muggle-born.

"But Sirius hated that kind of thinking, and so started hating those that thought it. And pretty much every Slytherin he met thought like that. But since he couldn't get back at his family for those kinds of thoughts, he got back at those he could, meaning the Slytherins here and now. Do you understand now, Lily?" James looked at her, almost willing her to understand and accept it. He couldn't stay with a girl who hated his best friend, after all, no matter what he felt about her. Years ago, he and Sirius had made a pact that they would never let a girl come between them, no matter what. It didn't matter that they were eight at the time, since James still fully intended to keep that vow.

Lily sat for a long moment, staring into her butterbeer again, silent enough that James began to fear that she wouldn't be able to understand the way Sirius thought; or rather, the way Sirius reacted. Finally she looked up at him and smiled, and James breathed a quick sigh of relief.

"I understand now, James," Lily said quietly. "I don't exactly approve of his methods, because I believe that violence and hatred never solve anything, but now I understand why..."

"Why he resents Slytherins so much," James finished, and Lily nodded. By unspoken mutual consent, the two decided to drop the subject of Sirius and his family and talked about classes. They finished their butterbeers and stood up to leave, neither one noticing Regulus Black and his Slytherin friends watching them with narrowed eyes as they walked out the door.

"Where would you like to go now?" James asked as soon as they were out the door. Lily stopped and considered a moment.

"Let's go look at the Shrieking Shack. I haven't been up there for a couple years," she replied. James hid a grin; he'd been inside it just last week, but he wasn't about to tell Lily that yet. He wasn't going to tell her anything about Moony without Remus's permission, and telling her about Prongs would be useless without telling her about Moony. So they walked up the hill and leaned on the fence outside the Shack, looking up at the dilapidated old building enclosed within. There were the familiar boarded up windows, though it had been a while since James had seen them from the outside.

"I wonder why the ghosts in there make so much noise," Lily murmured. James didn't know what to say to that, so he just looked at her, and had to remind himself not to stare. _She's beautiful_ , James thought reverently. And she was. Her wavy auburn hair was tumbling down her back, a few tendrils hanging around her face, framing it so that it stood out more. Lily glanced at James as he fell silent, green eyes looking questioningly at him as she raised an eyebrow in silent invitation to speak.

"You're so beautiful," James breathed, hardly thinking about what he was saying, and blinked when Lily blushed prettily, completely distracted from the earlier topic of the "ghosts" in the Shrieking Shack.

"Thank you," Lily replied, and James blinked again. Usually when he told her she was beautiful, she scoffed at him, not thanked him. _Does this mean she's really starting to like me?_ James hardly dared believe that she might. They turned back to the old house, though James kept stealing glances at Lily, and once or twice he caught her stealing glances at him back. Whenever he caught her, both would blush a bit and go back to looking at the house for another few minutes before starting glancing over at the other again.

"...Would you like to go somewhere else now?" James asked finally, and Lily nodded. Almost without thinking, James held out a hand for her to take, but to his everlasting surprise, she actually took his hand and allowed him to walk with her back down the hill, holding hands all the way. _This has been an amazing day_ , James thought as Lily smiled at him. _An amazing day, indeed._


	9. Chapter 9

Harry walked into the Great Hall for breakfast and immediately stopped, blinking, nearly unable to believe what he was seeing. Severus Snape. Severus Snape, with orange skin and blue hair. Severus Snape, who would burp every few minutes and emit a purple bubble that was singing shrilly, reminding him of Ginny Weasley's get well card in third year. Severus Snape, who was sitting at the Slytherin table with a very disgruntled look on his face, who every once in a while would shoot a murderous gaze to the Gryffindor seventh year boys, who were trying vainly to conceal their laughter. Well, the rest of the Great Hall, with the exception of most of the Slytherins, were either trying to contain their laughter, or were not even bothering. But Snape just seemed to concentrate on glaring at the Marauders, who were the most likely culprits for the prank.

Harry slid into a seat at the staff table, fighting valiantly to keep his face straight even though he was laughing inside, and looked around for Professor McGonagall. And there she was, bearing down on the Marauders like a cat pouncing on mice, disapproval in every line of her face. Harry couldn't hear what was said from his seat, but it looked like Minerva was concentrating on scolding James and Remus, who, after all, were the Head Boy and a prefect, respectively. But eventually she just gave up and probably issued them detention, because the four boys did not look at all penitent for their prank.

Harry smiled at Minerva when she came stalking back to her own seat next to his. She gave him a tired smile in return, then frowned.

"I don't know what I can do with those boys," she complained. "I swear, half of the detentions we've given out over the past seven years have been to them, but nothing seems to deter them!"

"Do they always prank young Mr. Snape?" Harry asked, genuinely curious.

Minerva's frown deepened. "He is the victim of their pranks the most often, but sometimes it's all of the Slytherins, other times the Ravenclaws or the Hufflepuffs, and sometimes even a few of their own Gryffindors. I honestly have no idea what motivates them!"

Harry bit his lip, thinking of Fred and George. He'd talked to them sometimes, after their flight from school in his fifth year, about what motivated them. They had said that it was two things. They loved flouting the rules, proving that sometimes authority was unnecessary, and while Harry did think this reason applied to the Marauders, it was the second reason he thought more likely. Fred and George wanted people to laugh. They wanted people to have fun, relax, forget for a while that Voldemort was out there. They wanted people to know that there was more out there than evil Dark wizards, more to life than fear. So they gave them laughter and jokes, and life went on. Harry told Minerva about these possible reasons, and saw her slowly nodding her head.

"I never thought about it that way," Minerva admitted. "I always thought they were just promoting house rivalries and trying their best to humiliate Mr. Snape."

Harry laughed. "Well, they seem to be doing rather well at humiliating Mr. Snape," Harry said wryly, "but I doubt that's their only motivation. They're intelligent young men, and very clever. They're the kind that's going to change the world." And Harry knew very well that they were going to change the world, though not really through any conscious decision on their parts--well, except for maybe Wormtail, but the other three didn't know what was going to happen.

"Still," Minerva said, "I'm glad that this is their last year here. Noble mission to make people laugh or not, they have a habit of making us teachers _very_ tired."

Harry laughed again. "I can see that already," Harry replied. "Lucky me, that I haven't been here all seven years then."

"You don't know how lucky you are," Minerva said darkly, but the small smile flitting at the corners of her lips belied her dark tone.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Harry whistled as he walked down the front steps and out into the sunlight that permeated the Hogwarts grounds. _It's nice_ , he reflected, _to be able to walk into the sunlight and have no fear of being attacked or watched. Just a short walk to see the first friend I ever had, who is still alive._ Harry had been devastated when Hagrid was killed early in his sixth year, and was ecstatic to see him again upon arriving in the past. Sure, Hagrid didn't know him, but they had a nice conversation about dragons in Hogsmeade, one that was cut off just before Harry got to tell Hagrid about the time he saw a baby dragon, and Harry fully intended to continue that conversation.

Harry reached Hagrid's cabin and knocked on the door. After a few seconds, Hagrid opened it, and his face split into a wide grin upon seeing who it was.

"Pr'fessor Patterson! Nice ter see you," Hagrid said, opening up his door wider so Harry could come in. "What brings you 'round 'ere?"

Harry walked in and sat at the table, accepting Hagrid's offer of tea. "I thought we could continue that conversation in Hogsmeade," Harry said casually. "I didn't even get a chance to tell you about the baby dragon. And call me Harry."

Hagrid's eyes light up as he turned his back on the steeping tea. "A _baby_ dragon?" he repeated excitedly. "What I wouldn't give fer one o' those..."

Harry laughed, then sipped the tea Hagrid brought him. _Earl Grey...mmm_. "Yeah, a baby dragon. One of my friends a couple years back got a hold of a dragon egg, a Norwegian Ridgeback. And once it hatched, he had me and a couple other friends coming down every few days to see him do something new. Besotted with that dragon, he was."

Hagrid nodded seriously, taking a sip of his own tea. "Dragons need a lot o' attention," he commented. "'Specially baby ones. Where'd this friend o' yers get it?"

"Bought it off a stranger in a pub," Harry said, determined not to get Hagrid's hopes up. "But he's not likely to be in England anymore."

"Oh," Hagrid deflated, looking disappointed. Then he brightened up again. "Met any more dragons?"

Laughing, Harry told Hagrid about his various meetings with dragons...leaving out all the details about how it was Hagrid himself who kept introducing them and such. It wouldn't do to let Hagrid know anything important, because no matter how good a friend the half-giant was, he couldn't keep a secret to save his life.

But still, it was very nice to just sit back and chat with Hagrid. He figured it would have been worth coming back to the past just for this chance alone. Hagrid had always held a special place in his heart.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Harry went up to his room, closing the door and locking it once he was inside. He walked over to his trunk and knelt beside it, taking out his key and fitting it in the second lock. He opened the trunk, reached in, and brought out one of his most prized possessions, the Firebolt that Sirius had gotten him in his third year. He was going flying, but first he had to fix a few things. It wouldn't do to be seen with a broom that wouldn't be coming out for twenty years, after all.

So Harry sat back on his heels and set the Firebolt on the ground in front of him. He raised his wand, and then transfigured his Firebolt into a Nimbus 1000, taking into account speed, acceleration, maneuverability, and other such things. It was a good thing that he had had a chance to fly on Remus's old Nimbus 1000, or he wouldn't have known exactly how to make it perform at that level. As it is, it was already a hard spell, not only changing the appearance of the broom, but its entire _design_. Firebolts were very different from the Nimbus series in how they were handled, after all.

When his Firebolt shimmered and then became a Nimbus 1000, Harry grinned. Now he could finally go flying, for the first time in several months. Picking the broom up and swinging it over his shoulder, Harry strode out the door, whistling.

He walked down to the Quidditch pitch, nodding courteously at anyone he passed in the halls. He didn't stop and talk to anyone, however, because he'd really much rather be out flying than making small talk with his fellow teachers or the students.

When he finally made it out to the Quidditch pitch, it was deserted, and there was a small breeze, not strong enough to affect his flying, but nice enough to be refreshing. Grinning, Harry mounted his broom and pushed off, soaring upwards into the air. Fear and worry nearly always vanished when he was flying, and this time was no exception. It was just him, his broom, and the entire sky above them. The clouds drifted lazily overhead, but Harry didn't feel like going up that high and being soaked in mist, so he just stayed in the Quidditch area.

After several minutes of just simple flying around and getting used to his broom, Harry suddenly shot towards one of the goal posts, made a sharp turn around the left-most one and shot through the ring, then zoomed to the other end of the field. The acceleration wasn't as fast as he was used to, nor had his turns been as sharp, but that was to be expected in a broom twenty years older than those he was used to. He tried a few loop-the-loops, but they gave him no problems, so he stopped. Now it was time to try a few dives.

With no warning, Harry suddenly pointed his broom towards the ground and dived, gaining speed and momentum as the ground rushed up at him. About fifteen feet above the ground, Harry pulled up, and flew off to his former position high on the pitch. This broom was definitely slower to pull out of dives than his Firebolt, so he would have to take that into account whenever he wanted to pull off a dive.

He grinned again, then hurtled down towards the ground for the second time that day, until this time he was about seven or eight feet above the pitch before he pulled up and zoomed off again. He was getting a better feeling for how well he could dive on this broom, so he decided to try a Wronski Feint.

Again, he hurtled to the ground, going faster and faster, the ground coming up closer and closer, until, with an audible _woosh_ , he pulled up until he was level with the pitch and flew, the tips of his toes barely brushing the grass on the pitch.

Somewhere behind him, he heard clapping, and, startled, he turned around to see the Gryffindor Quidditch team in their scarlet-and-gold Quidditch robes hanging out near the spectator stands, clapping and whistling. Inside the stands, Harry could see a few more people watching him, also clapping. Embarrassed, Harry flew slowly towards the team and dismounted when he was just in front of them.

"Wow, Professor..." James started just as Sirius burst out, "Can we have you on our team?" They looked at each other and laughed, then turned back to Harry, who shifted a bit.

"Ah, I'm sorry, but you know, professors aren't allowed to play on the house teams," Harry replied, and watched as all of their faces fell. _They can't have believed that I could have actually played for them..._ Harry thought, bemused.

"Would you if you could?" Sirius asked, looking up at him hopefully. Harry shook his head.

"If I played for any house team, besides the fact that it's for _students_ only, I could be accused of favoritism," Harry explained. "You can't have honestly believed that I could actually have played for you, right?"

"Of course not, Professor," said one of the girls carrying a beater's bat. "But you are really good, you know. I don't suppose you could give us a few pointers?"

Again, Harry shook his head. "I'm not your Quidditch instructor, so any help I give to any team could be construed as favoritism."

Again, the team looked disappointed, especially one small girl that Harry recognized from his fourth-year class who Harry guessed was their Seeker. Finally, James seemed to shake himself, and clapped his hands.

"Okay team, we came out here to practice, not to gawk at our teacher. So get up on those brooms and let's actually practice!" And as the team streamed past Harry onto the pitch, James and Sirius gave him quick smiles, which he returned. Then he turned around and saw Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew sitting in the stands, obviously going to watch the team practice. Or rather, Peter was going to watch them practice. Remus looked like he was going to read, only glancing up every once in a while to see how the practice was going.

Harry climbed up the stands, broom in hand, until he reached the spot where Remus and Peter were sitting. He tapped Peter on the shoulder and asked, "Do you mind if I talk to Mr. Lupin alone for a bit, Mr. Pettigrew?"

At this, Remus looked up from his book, and Peter nodded before scooting off several rows down. Harry sat down in Peter's vacated spot, setting his broom down near his feet. "What book are you reading?" Harry asked the young werewolf.

Remus held up the book, which was an advanced Defense Against the Dark Arts book, as Harry noted with approval. Remus put the book back down on his lap and looked at his teacher quizzically. "Professor? You wanted to speak to me alone?"

Harry nodded. "You are aware of the extra-curricular lessons I am offering to Mr. Black, correct?"

Remus nodded. "The Imperius lessons, yeah. He likes them very much, though he complains about how hard they are."

"Learning to throw off one of the Unforgivables can be rather hard, yes," Harry agreed. "But our first lesson, Sirius had an idea that I agreed to look into. Would you like to join our lessons, Mr. Lupin?"

Remus's eyes widened, and he blinked quickly several times. "Me?" he asked incredulously. "But why me? I haven't had any negative encounters with the Imperius like Sirius had. I'm not likely to have the curse cast on me. So why me?"

Harry just looked at Remus. "You aren't likely to have the curse cast on you? Unless I'm mistaken, which I don't believe I am, you are one of the ones that Voldemort will most heavily recruit once you're out of school, which will be at the end of this year, as you know. I know you'd never go with him voluntarily, so that leaves involuntary means of subversion."

Now Remus looked afraid. "But I don't have anything to offer him," he insisted. "Why would he want me?"

Harry sighed and lowered his voice. "Remus, you are a very intelligent young man with a great deal of knowledge in the area of the Dark Arts and the defense thereof. You also happen to be afflicted with lycanthropy. You are going to be one of the people that Voldemort wants most because of all those things, and I'd really rather you not be forced to serve him."

Remus looked very pale. "You--you know, about my...?" he trailed off, obviously not wanting to say the word. Harry put a hand on his shoulder.

"Yes, I know, and I don't give a shit," Harry said clearly, but still in a voice no one other than Remus could hear, "except for the fact that it causes most people to treat you unfairly and will give Voldemort a reason to think he could get you to serve him. You and I both know that would never happen, and frankly, Voldemort probably does too. But he'll still want you to be one of his servants, because you are a very well-educated werewolf."

Remus looked down at his hands for a moment, then looked back up at Harry. "You said Sirius suggested me...does he think...?"

Harry blinked. "Does he think you're likely to be subverted?" Remus nodded. "No, of course not! He actually suggested you joining us in lessons because he wanted you to know that some things can be fought. The Imperius curse and lycanthropy are rather similar in that they take away all control over your own body."

Remus looked very relieved. "I can't fight the moon, so he wants me to be able to fight the Imperius...to be able to bring some measure of control to my insane life..." he murmured, speaking almost to himself.

"You have a very good friend in Sirius Black," Harry said, giving Remus's shoulder a squeeze and then letting go.

Remus smiled at him, then turned his eyes to where Sirius and James were passing the Quaffle between them, whooping and punching a fist whenever they got the large red ball behind their Keeper. "I know," Remus replied quietly. "All three of them are very good to me."

"So would you like to join our lessons, then?" Harry asked. Remus nodded, still watching his friends flying above him.

"Yes. You and Sirius have some good reasons for me to do so...and I'd like to have some feeling of control over my own life again," Remus replied thoughtfully.

"Good then," Harry said, clapping a hand to Remus's shoulder and then standing up. "Our next lesson should be tomorrow night at eight, in the Defense classroom. We'll see you there." And then without waiting for a reply, Harry picked up his broom and climbed back down to the ground, making his way back to the castle.

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	10. Chapter 10

"Hello, and welcome to the first Quidditch match of the year! Today is Gryffindor versus Slytherin, so let's see exactly what Slytherin will do to cheat this--"

"Pettigrew!"

Peter coughed. "Let's see how the game will turn out! Playing for Gryffindor, we have captain Potter, then Lucas, Black, Shacklebolt, Whitby, Edgecoombe, aaaaand...Logan!"

The seven members of the Gryffindor Quidditch team zoomed out onto the pitch, James in the lead with his fellow Chasers Jordan Lucas, a fifth year, and Sirius Black right behind him, Kingsley Shacklebolt and Erica Whitby, both sixth-year Beaters, behind them, Lily's friend Anne Edgecoombe the Keeper and Amanda Logan the Seeker bringing up the rear together. As one, the team flew up and did a warm-up lap around the pitch while they waited for Peter to announce the Slytherin team.

"And for the Slytherin team, we have captain Baddock, then Snape, Crouch, Pritchard, Jacobs, Black, aaaaaaand...Higgs!" Peter announced, and the Slytherin stands applauded wildly as their team flew out in the same formation the Gryffindors used. They too flew a warm-up lap around the pitch before both teams landed and approached their referee, Madam Hooch. Out of the corner of his eye, James could see Sirius and his brother Regulus glaring at each other. This was only the second year Regulus had been on the Slytherin team, though the fifth for Sirius, and last year anti-sibling rivalries had apparently been running high. What with Sirius being a Chaser and Regulus being a Keeper...things had gotten dirty last year, and James didn't think their relations would improve this year.

Madam Hooch had the team captains step up and shake hands, which James and Slytherin captain Robert Baddock did quickly, not wanting to touch each other for longer than they had to. _At least Snape's not the captain,_ James thought as he stepped away from Baddock. _I don't know if even washing my hands would be able to get rid of the grease._

"Mount your brooms!" Madam Hooch told the teams. Then, at her blown whistle, James pushed off, infinitely glad to be flying again. The wind in his hair, the broom beneath him, his teammates and opponents arrayed around him...there were few things James loved more than flying, and he was never reminded of that so much as when he was playing Quidditch.

"And they're off! Potter has the Quaffle, passes to Black, who ducks under Slytherin Beater Pritchard. He passes to Lucas, who approaches the scoring area--oh, that's gotta hurt!" James winced in sympathy as a Bludger slammed into Jordan Lucas's elbow, causing him to drop the Quaffle. He rubbed it a bit, then moved it around, and nodded at James, who nodded back. _Just bruised_ , James thought. _It's just bruised now, and he'll be fine._

"And Slytherin Chaser Snape has the Quaffle. He's taking it down to the Gryffindor side of the pitch, ducks under a Bludger, passes to Crouch who passes it back. Snape is within the scoring area, he shoots, and...intercepted! Gryffindor Captain Potter stole the Quaffle from right in front of the greasy git, and serves him right!" Peter yelled as the Gryffindors in the stands cheered.

"Pettigrew!" Professor McGonagall scolded. Peter just shrugged unapologetically and resumed his commentary. James smirked at Snape, who was so busy glaring at him that he'd missed what Peter had said.

"And Potter's taking it back down the field. Slytherin Beater Jacobs slams a Bludger at him, but Potter dodges and passes to Lucas, who zooms right past the Slytherin captain Baddock. She passes to Black, who is now within the scoring area. Gryffindor Chaser Black shoots, Slytherin Keeper Black dives, and...he misses! The score is now ten-zero for Gryffindor!" Peter announced as the Gryffindor stands erupted. Their cheers were nearly drowned out by the boos of the Slytherins. Sirius took a victory lap around the pitch, grinning, while his brother Regulus glared at him darkly.

As he flew, James looked around for that bright spot of brilliant red hair in the Gryffindor stands...and there she was. James flew past her, grinning. Lily only rolled her eyes, then smiled back at him. Grinning inwardly as well as outwardly, James turned his attention back to the game, where Bartemius Crouch was passing to Baddock.

"And Baddock shoots, Gryffindor Keeper Edgecoombe dives, and...wait a minute, is that the snitch?" All eyes turned to where Amanda Logan and Darren Higgs were racing towards the Slytherin goalposts. Anne Edgecoombe, distracted from her position, stopped diving and the Quaffle fell into one of the hoops. James made a mental note to talk to her about not letting the snitch distract her from her job, even as he himself watched the two Seekers racing to the snitch. James could just barely make it out, a little glint of gold hovering about two or three feet to the left of Regulus Black.

Then, from out of nowhere, a Bludger came hurtling at smashed into Amanda's broom, causing it to spin off course right into Higgs's. They both clutched at their broom, but in the time it took for them to get straightened out and back on task, the snitch had disappeared again, and normal play resumed.

"During that sighting of the snitch, Baddock scored a goal, so the score is now ten-ten," Peter announced. "Gryffindor Chaser Lucas takes the Quaffle back down the field, passes to Potter, who bears down on the Slytherin Keeper. He dodges a Bludger, loops around Snape, shoots, and...he scores! Twenty-ten to Gryffindor! Take that, you nasty Slytherins!"

"PETTIGREW! If you can't commentate an unbiased game--" Professor McGonagall threatened, and Peter nodded.

"Right, right, you won't pay me. Anyways, Snape takes the Quaffle..." And the game went on. And on. And on. After that first sighting of the snitch ten minutes into the game, it seemed to completely disappear, even three hours later. Gryffindor had pulled into the lead by two hundred points, because after every goal scored, Regulus would get more and more enraged until he was focusing more on the Chaser than the Quaffle. It was now 250-50, and after the twenty-fifth goal scored, the Slytherin team called a time out. And apparently whatever Baddock had yelled at Regulus worked, because once everyone flew up to take their positions again and play resumed, only a few more goals got past him.

An hour later, Gryffindor was in the lead by only 170 points, and James was getting tired. About half an hour before, a Bludger had slammed into his leg, and while it didn't get more than bruised, his leg throbbed every time he moved it. He was just glad that they were flying, where he didn't have to use his leg much.

"And Crouch scores again, leaving the score now 280-120. Lucas takes the Quaffle back, and--the Seekers are diving again! Have they spotted the snitch?" Peter yelled, and again all play stopped as everyone watched the two Seekers hurtling towards the ground. Amanda's arm was outstretched, reaching for the little golden ball hovering just inches above the grass, but then Higgs's arm knocked hers out of the way and his fist closed around the snitch.

"And Slytherin Seeker Higgs gets the snitch, but Gryffindor wins the game! The ending score is 280-270! That's really too bad, Slytherin, but you're going to have to play better than that to get one over on our Chasers!" Peter shouted happily as the people in the Gryffindor stands spilled onto the field in order to congratulate their team.

James lowered himself to the ground, not sure of what to feel. They won the game, but Slytherin got the snitch...too bad Professor Patterson had refused to give Amanda any pointers...he'd been amazing when James saw him fly...

"You played very well," a quiet voice said in his ear, and surprised, James spun around to see Lily standing right behind him. "After all, it was because of you Chasers that we won. And don't you dare get a big head from this."

James laughed, already cheered up. "Thanks Lily, and don't worry about it. It's really because of Regulus's temper problem that we had such an easy time scoring."

Laughing, Lily drew back, mock surprise on her face. "Don't tell me James Potter is acting _humble_ now! I simply won't believe it."

"Believe what you will, Lily," James told her, eyes dancing behind his glasses. "Now if you'll excuse me, I must congratulate my team and console Amanda. She'll not be very happy that she didn't get the snitch."

Lily smiled. "I'll leave you to that, then. See you in the common room." She turned to leave, but suddenly turned back, reached up on her tiptoes, and kissed him on the cheek. James stared after her as she disappeared into the crowd, one hand coming up to touch the place she kissed him. _Maybe she really does like me after all..._

 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

The next weekend found the four boys on their way into Hogsmeade. It wasn't a Hogsmeade weekend, but that didn't stop them; it never did. Wormtail was perched on Remus's shoulder and Sirius was walking ahead as Padfoot while James and Remus matched their paces under the Cloak. It wouldn't fit all four of them under it anymore, so the two who could walk around without raised eyebrows in their Animagus forms did so.

They reached the mirror on the fourth floor where Padfoot was waiting for them. James took out his wand surreptitiously under the Cloak, tapping the mirror with it and whispering a charm. Then the four of them slipped into the mirror and came out in the tunnel behind it. Wormtail hopped off Remus's shoulder and became Peter, Padfoot became Sirius, and James and Remus took off the Invisibility Cloak, which James folded and stuck in his robes.

They lit their wands and walked the short trip to Hogsmeade, where they soon appeared in front of a wall in the alley between the Three Broomsticks and Gladrags Wizardwear. Making sure no one was looking, they stepped out of the alleyway and into the warmth and light of the Three Broomsticks.

James, Remus, and Peter chose a booth in the corner to sit while Sirius went off to get the butterbeers. Soon enough he found them, carrying the four butterbeers and setting them down on the table, his face a bit pale and his teeth clenched.

James was the first one to notice. "Sear, what's wrong? Why're you so pale?"

Sirius slid into a spot next to Remus, unclenching his teeth with an effort and taking a long drought of his butterbeer. "Mother's here," he muttered in a low voice, and James drew back in surprise.

"Your mother's here?" he hissed. "But she hates Hogsmeade! Says it's too close to Dumbledore the Muggle-lover! What's she doing here?"

"No idea," Sirius replied. "But I saw her here, with a bunch of people wearing black cloaks. Normally she'd never even set foot in a pub like the Three Broomsticks. Whenever she's forced to come to Hogsmeade, she goes to the Hog's Head. But she hasn't been to Hogsmeade since Regulus started Hogwarts."

"But she's here now, and in the Three Broomsticks, no less," Remus said thoughtfully. He turned to Sirius. "Where's she sitting?"

Sirius pointed to the opposite corner of the room, where James could just make out several figures in black cloaks huddled around a table, one looking surreptitiously around them every few minutes. One of them shifted, and James could just make out Sirius's mother in the gap, wearing a black cloak like the rest of them and leaning over a large roll of parchment lying in the middle of the table.

"So...she's here, which is a rare occurrence in and of itself, with several mysterious cloak people," James mused. "So...possible reasons she could be here. Visiting her children..."

"Not bloody likely," Sirius muttered, but James ignored him as he thought of more reasons she could be there.

"Meeting some friends...meeting some co-workers..." James continued, but Sirius interrupted him again.

"She doesn't have a job, James, how could she be meeting any bloody co-workers?" Sirius growled, but Remus hushed him when a few people from a table not far from theirs looked over.

"Co-workers...perhaps on orders from their _boss_..." James said significantly with a raised eyebrow. Sirius looked confused for a moment before his eyes widened. Then he looked a mixture of sad and angry.

"I'm not sure if my mother...has agreed to working for him yet," Sirius replied. "After all, it is a big commitment, and Mother is rather used to being the boss herself."

James nodded. _Sirius would probably know if his mother is a Death Eater,_ James reasoned. _But even if she's not, that doesn't preclude her from having Death Eater sympathies, or doing something to help them out if she thought it would benefit her too._

"What we need," Remus said, looking directly at Peter, "is a way to inconspicuously hear what they're saying..."

Grasping the idea quickly, Peter looked around at the rest of them. "You want Wormtail to see if he can hear their plans?" Peter offered. James considered the idea, then nodded sharply.

"But be careful," James cautioned. "Even a rat can still be seen and wondered about, especially in a nice pub like this one. Hide as close as you can without being seen, and as far as you can and still be able to hear."

"Sure thing," Peter said, then stood up. "I'll just be going to the loo then, won't be but a moment." Peter disappeared into the bathroom, but it was a small brown rat that left it and scampered off towards the huddle of black-cloaked figures. The remaining three boys leaned closer to each other so they could talk without being overheard by their neighbors.

"Sirius, do you think your mum would help Death Eater plans?" Remus asked quietly. Sirius nodded regretfully.

"She thinks that wacko has the right idea, you know. Just like Auntie Araminta--the one who tried to legalize Muggle-hunting. Mother would help You-Know... _Voldemort_ in an instant, if he offered her something good enough," Sirius replied.

"What do you think he could offer her?" James asked, after wincing at Voldemort's name. _I must stop doing that,_ James told himself. _If Sirius and Professors Dumbledore and Patterson can say his name, so can I._

"Muggles to play with?" Remus suggested, but Sirius shook his head.

"No, she can get those herself easily enough," Sirius said disgustedly. "It has to be something she wouldn't ordinarily be able to get herself, but something she wants."

"But what could he offer a rich woman from an old respected pureblood family that she wouldn't be able to easily get herself?" James wondered aloud. Sirius and Remus looked at each other and shrugged, obviously unable to think of something either.

James carefully looked over to Mrs. Black's table again, but the positions of the black-cloaked figures didn't seem to have changed from the last time he had looked. He couldn't see Peter, but he figured that was all to the good. _A good spy is the one you would never notice, after all,_ James thought. _And Wormtail is most definitely unnoticeable._

 

James sipped his rapidly cooling butterbeer as he waited for Peter to come back, and Sirius and Remus followed suit. But after several minutes had passed, half his tankard of butterbeer was gone, and Peter still hadn't appeared, James was getting worried. _What if something's happened to him?_ James thought anxiously. _What if he was seen, or found out somehow, or--_

James's frantic thoughts were interrupted as Peter himself appeared right in front of him, causing him to yelp and spill half of his remaining butterbeer on his robes. Glaring at the other three who were snickering, James stood up and let Peter back into the booth before sliding back in himself and wiping off the dripping butterbeer with a napkin.

"Did you find out something interesting for us, Pete?" Sirius asked as soon as Peter and James were settled and they were all leaning close again so the neighbors couldn't hear. Peter nodded.

"They're doing something on the Dark Lord's orders," Peter started, and the other three shared a nervous look between them. Sure, that's what they'd thought, but it was still disconcerting to be proven right about something like that.

"Did you find out what that was?" Remus asked, and Sirius and James leaned in closer to hear Peter's answer better.

"I found out a bit of it," Peter replied quietly. "That roll of parchment they were all pouring over--that was a map of Hogwarts. They're obviously going to be doing something which involves the school, and they need knowledge of where to go."

"But what would my mother be doing there, then? Why should she have anything to do with a plan involving Hogwarts?" Sirius asked, looking very frustrated, nervously chewing on his lip.

"I heard them mention James and how they would need him for something," at this, James's insides went cold, and Sirius and Remus turned a horrified look on their friend. Glancing at James apologetically, Peter continued. "They also mentioned Regulus, and how he had something to do."

"They want Regulus to do something?" Sirius asked, pulling his hair and not even noticing. "But that doesn't explain why my mother's involved. Even if they wanted her perfect son for something, they wouldn't need to go to her; they could just ask him and he would probably do it. And it doesn't give her a reason for agreeing."

Now Peter looked apologetically at Sirius. "You're right--they wouldn't need her for that, and she was going to refuse before she heard what they offered her for her help. Her reward is...you, Sirius. They're going to give you back to her."

Sirius paled.

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	11. Chapter 11

Harry looked up from grading his fourth-years' essays on mid-level curses and hexes to see the door to his classroom opening and Sirius and Remus slipping inside.

"Hello boys," Harry said, putting down his quill and standing up. "Ready for your lesson, then?"

"Yes sir," Sirius said, while Remus simple nodded.

"Come in and sit down, then," Harry said, moving around to the front of his desk, dragging a chair in front of him, and sitting down on the desk with his feet on the chair. "We're going to try something a bit different today."

"Sir?" Sirius asked as both he and Remus grabbed some chairs and moved them to the front of the room before plopping down in them.

"Well, this is Remus's first lesson with us," Harry started, "and now that we have two people, I'm not going to just cast the Imperius on you in turns. That was fine for class, when I needed to get through everyone and I wasn't specifically trying to help anyone throw it off, but for here, I thought of something else. You're going to cast the Imperius on each other."

Remus blinked in rapid succession. "Uh...sir...isn't that, you know, illegal?" he finally asked. Sirius just stared at Harry in surprise.

Harry shrugged. "Dumbledore told me I could teach you. This is just another method of teaching you, and one I think will be effective. You two, not used to casting spells like the Imperius, won't be as strong, so you'll find it easier to cast off each other's curses than mine. Once you get used to the feel of fighting off the Imperius, then we can move on to me."

"Oh," Remus said, blinking again.

"Right," Sirius agreed, eyes wide.

"But remember, you two are only to do this under my supervision. No doing it on your own, right?" Harry asked sternly, leveling a heavy gaze at the two Gryffindors sitting in front of him. Both of them nodded quickly.

"Right then," Harry smiled. "Now, who's going first...Sirius. You already have some experience with fighting the curse, so cast it on Remus. Remus, all you need to do is stand there until you feel the curse settling on you. When it does, do what you can to fight it off."

Both boys hopped out of the chairs they were sitting in and faced each other, wands out. Sirius gave an apologetic half-smile to Remus, who smiled weakly in response. Then Sirius bit his lip, closed his eyes, and said, " _Imperio!_ ", pointing his wand at Remus.

"Give me your wand," Sirius said out loud. Harry made a mental note to tell him that he didn't need to say his order out loud, all he had to do was just think it at the person under the curse.

But slowly, Remus walked towards Sirius, slowly held up his wand arm, and slowly offered the wand to Sirius. Sirius took it, showing no emotion on his face, and ended the curse. When it was off, Remus blinked a bit and shook his head slightly, reorienting himself. When he saw Sirius holding his wand, he bit his lip in disappointment and turned away.

"Very good for only your second encounter with the Imperius curse, Remus," Harry told him, seeing him fight to keep the disappointment from showing on his face. Remus turned to face him, raising an eyebrow.

"But...I did what the curse told me to. That's not very good, is it?" Remus asked, obviously confused.

"You did," Harry replied, "but you did it so very slowly that no one could assume that was your normal intention. The Imperius curse counts on being undetectable, so the victim has to be able to do his or her typical activities in a normal way. Doing them that slowly won't be convincing many people that it was your intention to give your wand to Sirius. If you do things that are out of the ordinary but still within the bounds of the curse, then it's a very big clue, and could let others know that someone cast the Imperius on you."

Remus looked a bit happier. "Thanks, Professor. Is it my turn, then? There's something I wanted to do..." Remus asked, turning to face Sirius, who grinned and tossed him his wand, raising his eyebrow as if saying 'Come on, do your worst.' Harry laughed.

"Yes, it's your turn. Just remember, nothing too bad, or I'll be blamed," Harry reminded him, still chuckling. Remus bowed exaggeratingly to him, and Harry grinned, bowing back from his seat on the desk. "Oh, and you don't have to speak the order out loud. You can just tell him to do it in your mind." Remus grinned and Sirius groaned.

Remus held up his wand and said quietly but forcefully, " _Imperio!_ " Sirius dropped his wand and fell to his knees, crawling under the desks with his nose to the ground in the manner of a dog sniffing out a bone. Harry was irresistibly reminded of Padfoot and laughed. Remus probably had the Grim-like dog in mind too, because he was smiling slightly as he watched Sirius act like Padfoot. But not long after the curse was cast, Sirius suddenly shot up, hitting his head on the bottom of the desk he was under, and rubbing his head and cursing when he came back down. Harry grinned. Sirius had obviously been able to throw the curse off, even if he had humiliated himself first.

"Remus, that wasn't fair!" Sirius called in an aggrieved tone, and Remus muffled laughter. "I didn't do something embarrassing to you!"

"And that's supposed to preclude me doing something to you?" Remus asked, arching an eyebrow and Sirius came out from under the desk, pouting.

"Yes!" Sirius exclaimed. "Where's your Gryffindor sense of fairness, here?"

"Rolling on the floor laughing at the thought of you acting like a dog," Remus replied wryly, and Harry chuckled.

Sirius pouted again and plopped down in his chair, arms crossed petulantly. "I shall ignore you now," he informed Remus, and turned away.

"We'll see how long that lasts," Remus replied, but Sirius didn't say anything, instead looking out the window. Remus turned to Harry. "Professor, in a lesson that requires both of us, is he allowed to ignore me?" Sirius continued looking out the window, but his sudden glance at Harry made it obvious he was waiting for an answer.

"Well," Harry said solemnly, "no, I suppose not, since this would normally require both of your cooperation. But this is probably a good place to end the lesson. You two should get back to Gryffindor Tower now, and Remus, be sure and tell me how long he lasts before he stops ignoring you. I think possibly an hour." Sirius turned an outraged look on his professor, but Harry ignored him.

Remus grinned. "Will do, Professor. I'm betting maybe five, ten minutes at the most."

"Hey!" Sirius exclaimed. "Have you no faith in my abilities? I can last longer than that, I..." but Harry and Remus were laughing, and soon Sirius was laughing too at how he had been manipulated.

"That's still not fair," he informed a chuckling Remus.

"Oh, I think it is," Remus replied. "You would have cracked sometime. Professor Patterson and I just helped the process along a bit."

"Fine, fine, whatever you say," Sirius said grumpily. "Now let's just get back to Gryffindor. We'll see you later, Professor." Sirius nodded to Harry, who nodded back, before walking out the door. Harry and Remus shared one last amused glance before Remus followed him. When they were gone, Harry shook his head, smiling slightly with amusement. It was nice to see them when they were so young and happy.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Not long after Harry had retired to his office to grade essays, someone politely rapped on the door. Harry absently told whoever it was to come in while making sure he was still wearing his contacts--it wouldn't do to repeat what happened with James Potter--but was rather surprised when he looked up and saw Severus Snape standing there.

"Professor. I'd like to ask you for something, if you don't mind," Snape said in an oddly formal tone.

Harry blinked. "All right then, Mr. Snape. Do sit down," Harry gestured towards the chair in front of his desk, and Snape sat down, staring at Harry with unreadable eyes. "So what can I do for you, then?"

Snape was silent for a moment. "I heard you were giving lessons on resisting the Imperius curse to Black and Lupin," he said abruptly.

Harry blinked. "I am," he replied. "Why, do you want to join them too?"

Snape shook his head. "I don't think that would be necessary. I'd like to ask for a different sort of lesson, if I may."

"What sort of lesson?" Harry asked, trying not to think of why Snape would think lessons in resisting the Imperius curse unnecessary. Snape smiled thinly.

"Dueling lessons," he replied, and Harry blinked again. "I would like to improve my dueling skills," Snape continued, "but there are very few opponents in this school that can really challenge me. You are the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, you fought in the war, and I'm sure there are many things you can teach me."

Harry sat back in his chair, considering what Snape said. On one hand, if he gave Snape dueling lessons, Snape would most certainly use those skills for Voldemort the duration he was a Death Eater. But on the other hand, Snape's dueling skills would save his life in the future, and he had to have learned those skills somewhere.

"All right then," Harry said, and Snape nodded curtly. "How are, say, Wednesday and Friday evenings at nine in my classroom?"

Snape nodded again. "That will work," he said, then paused. "Thank you." Then with a whish of his black robes, he was out the door. Harry rubbed his forehead, wondering just what he had gotten himself into.

Later that night, another person knocked on the door of Harry's study as he was grading his seventh years' list of spells. It was amazing how little effort some of them had put into the assignment...when the knock came again, Harry shook himself out of his paper-grading reverie and called, "Come in."

But when he saw who his visitor was, he raised an eyebrow. _James again?_ Harry wondered as his father shifted nervously in place. "What brings you here at this time of night, Mr. Potter?" Harry asked, gesturing James to the seat across from his desk. James perched gingerly on the edge of his chair, biting his lip.

"Ah...Professor, the others didn't really want me to tell you this...they thought they should keep it amongst ourselves...but you're the Defense professor, and I think it would be best if we told you, so here I am..." James babbled.

Harry blinked. _Well that doesn't help much..._ "James, do you mind telling me exactly what you're talking about?" Harry asked, confused.

James flushed. "Well, a couple days ago, on Saturday, me and Sirius and Remus and Peter went down to Hogsmeade. I know it wasn't a Hogsmeade weekend, but we went down there anyway because we wanted some butterbeer. And we went to the Three Broomsticks, but while we were there, we saw Sirius's mum with a bunch of people in black cloaks, and we found out they were plotting things," James said very quickly, as if he was trying to get it off his chest.

Harry sighed and leaned back in his chair, crossing his arms. "What do you want me to do about this, James?" he asked tiredly.

James looked confused. "Umm...stop them from carrying out their plot?" James replied, and Harry rolled his eyes slightly at his naivete.

"I need more information for that," Harry informed him. "First off all, exactly what they were plotting, why you were suspicious, how you found out what they were plotting, and several other things."

"Well, we were suspicious because Sirius's mum is Dark, and she hates the Three Broomsticks, so it was rather odd to see her there. Then we sent Peter--since he's really unnoticeable sometimes--to see what they were talking about. He came back and told us they were looking over a map of Hogwarts, that they had a plan involving Sirius's brother Regulus and me, and that Mrs. Black's reward for helping them was getting Sirius back," James explained further, fear and confusion running rampant across his face and eyes.

Harry felt sick. "Something involving you and Regulus?" he asked, just to make sure, and swore aloud when James nodded. James looked rather surprised at the various expletives Harry used, but Harry didn't care. _Albus told me Voldemort never came to Hogwarts! Unless...damn. Just because Voldemort didn't come to Hogwarts didn't mean there wasn't a plot involving him. Damn Dumbledore and his blasted loopholes. Ooooh, Albus, be glad you're dead, because if you weren't, I'd kill you!_

 

"Uh...sir?" James asked when Harry showed no sign of stopping his stream of inventive invectives. Finally Harry cut himself off and rested his head on his desk for a moment, getting himself under control before looking up at James again.

"You think Voldemort's behind it, don't you?" Harry asked calmly. James nodded nervously.

"I don't think there's anyone else who could get Mrs. Black's cooperation like that, sir. Or offer her Sirius unless he thinks he can really deliver...not that we'll let him, of course. But...I have no idea why he wants me too..." James looked at Harry hopefully, and Harry sighed mentally.

"I don't have any direct answers for you, James," Harry said, and James's face fell. "I don't know exactly why Voldemort would want to, or what he's up to. Nor do I think I would be able to stop it without more information. I will try, of course, but I can't guarantee success."

"I know," James said in a subdued tone. "But I just thought you should know, since you're the Defense teacher and all, and one of the best ones we've had."

Harry smiled, touched that his father thought he was a good teacher. "What have your other teachers been like, then?" Harry asked, curious. He really wanted to know if James's past teachers had been nearly as bad as the majority of his own.

"For the last three years, we've had Professor Dreyer," James said, scoffing a bit. "He was nice and all, but he treated us all like we were little kids, afraid of anything he would should us. That's why he didn't tell us anything about the Unforgivables last year, even though that was when we should have learned about them. He thought we couldn't handle curses as 'nasty' as those." James laughed, and Harry chuckled a bit. James's description of Professor Dreyer was reminding a bit of Lockhart and the dreadful, fear-inspiring pixies...

"You said the past three years. What about your first three?" Harry asked once he chased the image of Gilderoy Lockhart--who was actually one of his fifth-year Slytherins, Regulus Black's classmate, and as insufferable as a student as he was when he was a teacher--out of his mind.

James looked thoughtful. "The woman we had our first three years was okay. She was a bit strict, an okay teacher, but she wasn't very knowledgeable about her subject. I remember how Snape kept correcting her about curses in second year, and Remus about Dark creatures in third. After third year, she left to get some experience, and we got Dreyer."

"I hope I'm knowledgeable enough for you," Harry said wryly. "This is only my first year of actual teaching, so I don't know how well I'm doing."

James grinned. "You're much better than the other two," he enthused. "You don't coddle us, and you know your subject. What with the way things are going, with the war and all, we need teachers like you."

Harry flushed a bit with pleasure. "I know some areas of my subject better than others," Harry said. "Especially the parts I got first-hand experience in, like curses and hexes. I'm glad to be teaching, though. I used to want to be an Auror, but I think teaching really suits me better."

James nodded. "I want to be an Auror," he announced quietly. "I want to try and make a difference in the war. I probably won't be able to, but even one Death Eater capture will help. You-Know-Who must be stopped."

"Call him Voldemort, James," Harry reminded gently, and James flinched slightly before recovering and nodding.

"Sirius calls him that now. He says he's not going to let an evil megalomaniac's name scare him," James commented.

"Good for Sirius," Harry smiled. "Does he want to be an Auror too?"

"Yeah," James said, nodding. "We want to fight Dark wizards together. Remus wants to be a teacher--he loves teaching, just like you--and Peter wants to be a medi-wizard. He doesn't think he would be able to capture or kill Death Eaters himself, but he wants to help the war effort."

"Good for all of you," Harry replied, though he wondered how Peter could have gone from being a medi-wizard to a Death Eater. "I know you'll be able to make a difference if you just put your mind to it. Don't let anything discourage you."

James nodded decisively. "Don't worry, Professor. We won't. We're going to help put an end to this war."

Harry smiled and stood up. "That's the attitude to take, James. Now, if I'm not mistaken, it's..." he looked at his watch "...eleven thirty, and you should be in bed. Feel free to come see me whenever you need to talk."

"Thanks Professor," James said, also standing up. "I will. I'll see you in class."

"Good night, James," Harry replied. James waved, then walked out the door. After a couple minutes of just standing there, thinking a bit, Harry decided it would be best if he went to bed too, so he walked down to the staff quarters, reveling in being able to stroll the halls at night without fearing getting caught.

Harry walked along the corridors, cordially saying hello to Nearly Headless Nick as he was floating by, muttering at a ghostly letter in his hand. Harry hid his smile. Apparently Nick was still applying for the Headless Hunt...or rather, already had. But Harry learned his lesson about offering to help. He didn't fancy hanging around in a cold dungeon with rotting food and tons of ghosts on Halloween again.

Finally Harry reached the entrance to the staff quarters--which weren't on the Marauder's Map...had the Marauders really never been in the staff quarters, despite all the other places they've been?--and spoke the password. He went inside and walked until he reached his own door. Once he went in, Hikari immediately flew to land on his shoulder, nuzzling his cheek with her head. Harry stroked her crest with a knuckle before moving her so he could undress. Then he laid down on his bead, staring up overhead into the darkness.

"Something's happening, Hikari," he said suddenly, and Hikari, who was on her perch by his bed, raised her head and looked at him. "Something big. I don't think this year is going to be relatively peaceful for much longer..."


	12. Chapter 12

James walked into Defense Against the Dark Arts with his friends one day in late November. Professor Patterson had told them last lesson that they would be learning about the Patronus today, and James was rather nervous. Remus had told him that a Patronus was very hard to conjure, and James didn't know how well he'd do.

Once inside the classroom, James sat down in his normal desk, Sirius, Remus, and Peter assuming their usual seats. A few stragglers came in just before the bell rang, and as they sat down, Professor Patterson stood up.

"Hello class," he said quietly, but the room was silent enough that everyone could hear him. "Today I'll be teaching you about the Patronus. It's not normally in the course schedule for any year, both because it's a hard spell and because it's not often used, so the school board decided that it didn't need to be taught anymore. But we're in a war right now, and Voldemort has the Dementors on his side. Learning a Patronus could save your soul. You all know what a Dementor is, correct?"

Professor Patterson looked at them expectantly, but as James looked around, he could see a few that were shaking their heads. Patterson obviously noticed them too, because he asked Remus to explain.

"Dementors are hooded creatures without souls that feed on your good memories so that whenever you're in their presence, you can only remember the worst experiences of your life," Remus said, and James saw a couple people shiver at that.

Patterson nodded. "Dementors also have another bad weapon, aside from sucking out your good memories. They can also suck out your soul through your mouth. It's called the Dementor's Kiss, and whoever's had it done to them just...doesn't have a soul anymore. They still live, their heart still beats, but there's no life, no personality anymore."

At this explanation, James saw one of the Slytherins looking a bit sick, and James felt the same way himself. How awful would it be to live without your soul...well, you probably wouldn't notice, because you wouldn't have a soul anymore, James reasoned.

"But there's one known defense against a Dementor," Patterson continued, "and that's the Patronus. Does anyone know exactly what it is?"

To no one's surprise, Remus the Defense expert raised his hand again, and Patterson nodded to him. Lowering his hand, Remus said, "It's a barrier, made up of a strong good memory, against the Dementor."

Patterson nodded. "It works against Lethifolds too, but you're more likely to encounter a Dementor than a Lethifold, and Dementors are really the greater danger because there's more of them around, and they can keep you trapped within your own worst memories. A Patronus is a positive force made of up feelings like hope and happiness, but it can't feel despair, so Dementors can't feed on it. Not everyone can summon a Patronus, and trying to do so while in the presence of a Dementor just makes it harder. Therefore we will first do it without a Dementor, then with one."

James blinked. "Professor, there aren't any Dementors in the school, are there?" he blurted out, then blushed as everyone looked at him.

Patterson shook his head. "No, there are no Dementors in the school, nor would I bring one near here. We'll be using a boggart. They turn into Dementors when they see me, and I'll be able to control it far better than I would a real Dementor."

James shivered. He'd never met a Dementor, of course, so he didn't know what they were really like, but now hearing about what they did, and that an amazing teacher like Professor Patterson was afraid of them above all else...he didn't think he would like them.

Patterson looked around the room and smiled crookedly. "Well, let's get started then. The incantation for the Patronus is 'Expecto Patronum.' Does everyone have that?"

The class nodded and murmured 'Expecto Patronum', then Patterson had them take out their wands.

"Remember, don't be discouraged if you don't get it on your first try," Patterson cautioned them as they pulled their wands out. "Just concentrate on a very happy memory. Now go on, try it."

Dubiously, James looked at his wand, held it out, and said, " _Expecto Patronum_." But after all Patterson's reminders that not everyone could do it, James was understandably surprised when a jet of silvery fog rushed out of his wand. He looked around, but could only see two other people who managed to get it on their first try, Lily and Snape, and neither of them had managed to get more than fog either.

"Good job James, Lily, and Severus," Patterson said, and the class looked up at him again. He was smiling at James, who hesitantly smiled back.

"Professor, is it supposed to look like that?" Lily asked. "Just a load of fog, I mean?"

"A full-fledged Patronus has a corporeal form, but I wasn't expecting any of you to get that on your first try. It took me months before I could, and I wasn't even faced with a real Dementor at the time," Patterson explained, and James felt a bit more relieved, though he definitely wanted to work on his Patronus and make it corporeal.

"Every Patronus is unique to the wizard that cast it," Patterson went on, "so none of yours will likely look like any other. A Patronus generally has a special meaning to its caster, because, whether consciously or subconsciously, that person sees the form his or her Patronus takes as a guardian. But you really have to want the Patronus to appear for it to come. If even the smallest part of you holds back, then the Patronus won't appear."

Lily nodded, then glanced at James and smiled. James smiled back, and decided that the next memory he chose would be when Lily had agreed to go out with him.

"Ready to try again?" Patterson asked, and a few people groaned, but they picked up their wands again and held them in front of them. "Go on, then."

This time James concentrated on how Lily sounded when she said yes to him, and how he felt afterwards, as he firmly said the incantation, and this time when the silvery fog rushed out, it flew upwards, spread its wings-- _wings?_ \--and vanished before James could see what it was properly. He looked around again, and saw that this time it was only a few Slytherins and one of Lily's friends and Peter who hadn't managed to get any fog, but no one else managed to get any clearer shape, except James.

"Good job, James!" Patterson said, and James looked up at him, smiling. "Did you manage to see what shape yours took?"

Regretfully, James shook his head. "I saw that it had wings, though," he offered.

Patterson nodded, then looked around at the rest of the class. "All right then. Keep working on it, though some of you might want to choose happier memories, as those don't seem to be working as well for you."

Again, cries of " _Expecto Patronum!_ " echoed out into the room, soon followed by Peter's triumphant shout when mist shot out of his wand, and a gasp and subsequent hard thump as Sirius sat down hard on the ground, and the rest of the class became silent as they craned their heads around to see what happened. James looked to see what had affected Sirius so strongly, then blinked and gaped.

Sirius apparently now had a full-fledged, corporeal Patronus. And if that wasn't surprising enough, it was a wolf--a werewolf to be precise. One that James, Sirius, and Peter had seen every month for the past two years. It was Moony. Sirius's Patronus was Moony. James tore his eyes away from the dazzling silver wolf to look at Remus, who was staring at it, wide-eyed. Slowly, Remus turned his head to look at Sirius, who wordlessly stared back at him from his seat on the floor.

As the silvery wolf Patronus faded away, Professor Patterson broke the silence by delicately clearing his throat, and Sirius jumped.

"That must have been one strong memory, Sirius," Patterson commented, and Sirius nodded. Patterson then turned to the rest of the class and said, "Now you see what a fully-fledged Patronus can look like. They don't normally stick around for long after they've been summoned unless there's a Dementor around, which is why that one faded so quickly. One more try for the rest of you, then we'll try it with the boggart-Dementor."

More shouts of " _Expecto Patronum!_ " could be heard, with the exception of Sirius, who was staring straight ahead with a dazed look in his eyes, and Remus, who was still staring at Sirius before he slowly raised his wand and began casting his misty Patronus as well. James concentrated on the time Lily kissed his cheek after that Quidditch match, but his Patronus became no more distinct than it had been before.

After the last silvery mists had faded, Patterson held up a hand. "I don't know what your boggarts will turn into, but chances are they won't be a Dementor. Therefore to prevent the boggart from changing, I want all of you to go to the back of the room. You'll still feel the Dementor's effects, and any Patroni you cast will still be able to reach it, but you won't be in any danger from it, nor will it change to suit your fears. If you will all please move now?"

Standing up with the rest of the class, James moved to the back of the room, where he leaned against the wall, keeping his eyes at the front of the room, where Professor Patterson was bringing out a large suitcase from beneath his desk. He shoved it on top of the desk, looked up at the class, and nodded before opening the suitcase.

All of a sudden, the room became icy cold, and voices began fillings James's head as he saw a dark hooded and cloaked figure appear at the head of the classroom. He recognized Sirius's voice, detachedly telling him what his mother had done, then Sirius's voice again, panicked, telling him about sending Snape to the Whomping Willow. Remus's voice, screaming with pain as the transformations set in. Peter, hiding bruises from them when they met him at King's Cross one year, then, panicking, pleading with them to tell nobody.

As James drowned in his own memories, the rest of the class didn't appear to be faring especially well either. Lily had silent tears running down her face, Remus was deathly pale, and Sirius was biting his lip so hard that he'd bitten clean through it, blood slowly trickling out of his mouth and down his chin.

With an effort, James focused on his professor, who was standing in front of the Dementor, wand upraised, though he too was awfully pale. James looked around and saw that none of his classmates were making any efforts to summon their Patroni, and, he saw with growing horror, neither was their professor. The Dementor was slowly gliding towards him, but he just kept slowly stepping back towards the door of the room, his wand still upraised though no silvery mist was emitted from it. With dawning realization, James saw that it was going to have to be he who cast the Patronus, or no one would.

James pushed the image of a Remus bloody from self-inflicted wounds from his mind, replacing it with the memory of Remus after they had shown him their Animagus forms. He concentrated on the amazingly bright smile that had been on Remus's face, the tears of happiness running down his cheeks, though it was the first time since they had met that James had seen Remus cry. He pulled memories of nights playing in the Forbidden Forest in their animal forms from the depths of his mind, nights playing chess in the common room, going on kitchen raids, visiting Hogsmeade together; then, shoving it all to the forefront of his brain, he stepped forward and yelled, " _Expecto Patronum!_ "

But it was two voices yelling the incantation, and two Patroni that burst out of two wands and glided to the Dementor. James recognized his own as the one with wings, and his brain processed the fact that it was a phoenix, but it was the other Patronus that caught his attention. The Patronus that looked amazingly like James himself in his Animagus form.

The cold disappeared as Patterson shouted " _Riddikulus!_ " and shoved the boggart back into the suitcase, but James stood stock still. Not even the euphoria he felt as having a full Patronus could overcome his shock at seeing his Animagus form burst from his professor's wand and chase down a Dementor. Sirius, Remus, and Peter came up and stood next to him, and he looked at them, silently asking if they had seen what he had seen. As one, they nodded, then turned their attention to Patterson, who was shoving the suitcase back under his desk.

"You can return to your seats now," Patterson said, and silently James went back to his seat as everyone else in the class did the same. Patterson himself perched on the corner of his desk again.

"Whose Patronus was that other one?" One of the Slytherins asked, who had been in the far back and unable to see exactly what happened. "That stag?"

Patterson sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. "That was mine," he affirmed, then shrugged apologetically. "I hadn't intended to use it, but since none of you were, I didn't see any choice. It was just coincidence that James cast the spell the same time I did." Then Patterson turned to James, smiling, but James still hadn't gotten over his shock yet, and didn't quite smile back. "Speaking of which, did you manage to see what yours was this time, James?"

James nodded hesitantly. "It was a phoenix, sir," he replied, and Patterson smiled more widely, and turned to the rest of the class.

"James was able to put aside the effects of the Dementor to find a memory strong enough, and with enough positive feelings, that he was able to cast a corporeal Patronus and turn back that Dementor. Twenty points to Gryffindor, James, and very good job."

This time James smiled, albeit a little shyly. "Thank you, sir," he said quietly as all the other Gryffindors smiled too, as these twenty points would put them in the lead for the House Cup.

Nodding, Patterson spoke again. "Now you've all seen a Patronus first hand, and what they're meant to do. For homework, I want you to write two rolls of parchment about the Patronus, due to me in one week." The bell rang, and the students gathered up their supplies before hurrying out of the room to their next class. James, Remus, Sirius, and Peter moved more slowly, because they had a free period next.

By silent agreement, they made it up to Gryffindor Tower without talking about their professor's surprising Patronus, but once they got back up to their dorm, it seemed they all started speaking at once.

"Quiet!" James snapped as babbling broke out, and a bit surprised--James hardly ever snapped at them, but they knew he was still very surprised--they quieted down, then slung themselves across Sirius's bed.

"Professor Patterson's Patronus is Prongs," Remus stated, and Sirius and James nodded, but Peter didn't look convinced.

"What if it was just a stag? Maybe it wasn't Prongs at all," Peter suggested, but Sirius shook his head.

"It was Prongs. No other stag looks completely like him, and I can recognize him a mile off," Sirius argued, and this time Peter didn't dispute it.

Peter sighed. "So what are we going to do about it?" he asked.

"It's not like we can do much about it," Remus said reasonably. "It's not like we can just go up to him and ask him why his Patronus is Prongs. He'd be sure to ask us who Prongs is, and we can't tell him that."

James nodded, but Sirius looked frustrated. "But how can our Defense teacher--someone who's only known us for a couple months--have a Patronus that looks exactly like James's Animagus form? It doesn't make sense!"

"He can't possibly know about you," Remus stated, and the others shook their heads emphatically. James knew he had never told anyone, and he was sure the others hadn't either. Remus sighed. "Then it's a real mystery how his Patronus could be Prongs, but it's one that we're not going to be able to figure out without more information. Let's talk about something else."

"Your Patronus is pretty neat," Peter told James. "A phoenix, huh? That's gotta be nice."

James half-smiled. "Well, it was rather unexpected," he said, "but I like it. I'd never realized that I thought of phoenixes as guardian-types."

"And your Patronus is Moony," Remus stated, looking at Sirius, who looked a bit uncomfortable. James was also rather surprised with that Patronus, since he didn't really think a werewolf was exactly the best protector around, but...James shrugged mentally just as Sirius shrugged physically. _Your Patronus form is your Patronus form_ , James thought philosophically, _and you don't choose it._

 

After a few minutes of silence, Sirius cleared his throat and asked, "What memory did you think of for that Dementor, James? It must have been something strong, to have worked so well."

James smiled, looking fondly around at his best friends--his brothers. "I thought of us, Sirius," James replied. "I thought of us playing around in the Forbidden Forest on the full moons, of when we first transformed, and how happy Remus was when we did." Here Remus looked a little embarrassed, but James went on. "I thought of nights in the common room, in the kitchen, in Hogsmeade. It was our friendship that's my happiest memory and strongest feeling. You guys are my brothers, you know." James looked around at them, a solemn expression on his face that the others echoed. "Marauders forever."

"Marauders forever," the other three repeated together, and they smiled


	13. Chapter 13

Harry was walking down one of the corridors a couple weeks after the Patronus lesson when he heard someone yelling " _Expecto Patronum!_ " in a room near him. Curious, he walked over to the door of the classroom the yells were coming from and peered inside the window, but what he saw inside made him blink. Peter Pettigrew was inside the room, casting his Patronus over and over, though it never seemed to take a direct shape.

Wondering if he was doing the right thing, Harry pushed the door of the room open and cleared his throat, causing Peter to jump and quickly turn around, wand pointed at Harry, though once he saw who it was, he lowered it.

"Sorry, Professor," Peter said sheepishly, holding his wand loosely. "You startled me."

"Quite alright, Mr. Pettigrew," Harry replied, moving further into the room. "I heard someone practicing their Patronus in here, and I was just wondering who. You have very good reflexes, though."

"Thanks," Peter said, looking away, his cheeks flushing a bit. "I've been practicing my Patronus for a while, but I can't seem to get it to have a distinct shape. I don't suppose you could help?" Peter turned hopeful eyes to Harry, who suppressed a sigh and nodded reluctantly--he was a teacher now, and it was his responsibility to help his students, regardless of his personal feelings towards them.

"There's not exactly much I can do," Harry said as Peter sat down on a desk and Harry sat down on another. "I just teach the spell, but it's up to you to learn it, especially with this kind of spell."

Peter's face fell. "Can you just give me some tips?" he asked. "I really need to learn this spell."

Harry raised his eyebrow. "You _need_ to learn how to do this spell?" Harry repeated. "May I ask why?"

Peter lowered his eyes, smiling ruefully. "I'm not a very good wizard, you know," he said amiably. "James, Sirius, and Remus are all loads better than I am, and James and Sirius don't even really work for it. Remus and I have to work hard, but even so, Remus does much better than me. There's few things I can do that they can't do better. I know Sirius and James already have a Patronus, but they don't expect me to have anything more than mist."

"They told you this?" Harry asked, a bit astonished. The Sirius and James of Snape's Pensieve he could see being so cruel to their friend, but not the Sirius and James he knew now.

"No, no," Peter said hurriedly, glancing up at Harry before looking down at his hands in his lap. "They've never _said_ anything to me about it, but they talk to Remus, and say things like, 'You can do it, Remus, it just might take you a little longer.' They don't say things like that to me, because I know they think I _won't_ be able to do it. They've never said anything, and their always helpful, but...I've known them for over six years now, and I know they think I can't do it. And that's why I have to."

Harry looked at Peter out of the corner of his eye, but Peter was looking down at his hands, one still loosely clasping his wand.

"But why _this_ spell?" Harry asked. "Most people can't get a corporeal Patronus, so it's nothing to be ashamed of if you can't. It's a hard spell--"

"And that's why I have to learn it," Peter blurted, looking up again, his eyes wide. "I have to learn a powerful spell. No one will take me seriously if I can only do easy spells and nothing hard. I want to be taken seriously, but if I have to work hard to do so, then I will." Peter's watery blue eyes gazed up at Harry, filled with determination, and Harry felt a bit uncomfortable.

Harry didn't like Peter--it was hard to forget what he was going to do in the future. And Harry didn't especially want to encourage him in anything--it felt like he was encouraging the Wormtail he knew, even though this Peter hadn't done anything yet. But this Peter was still just a student, and one who needed help. Harry resolved to ignore what Peter had done in the future and just do his job, which was to help the students learn.

"There could be several reasons why you aren't getting an actual Patronus yet," Harry commented. "Your memory might not be strong enough. You might not be confident enough that the Patronus will come. Even the smallest doubt can throw the spell off, because doubt is negative, and the Patronus is a positive force."

Peter looked thoughtful. "It might...be a combination of both of those, I think. I'm not exactly used to having spells work for me," Peter dredged up a tired smile, "and so I'm always kind of...dubious, I suppose, as to whether it will work or not. But how can you tell whether a memory is happy enough?"

Harry shrugged. "It all depends on you. My first happy memory strong enough to drive back a Dementor, though it didn't cause a full-fledged Patronus, was finding out I was a wizard and coming to Hogwarts. It just depends on you."

Peter bit his lip, looked away, then looked back at Harry. "How long did it take you to get a real Patronus, Professor? And why is your Patronus a stag?"

Harry sighed--he'd been waiting for one of the Marauders to ask him why his Patronus was what it was. "My Patronus is a stag for personal reasons that I would rather not share. As for how long it took me to learn it...several months, but a lot of things were happening at that point. I wasn't learning in my Defense class--we were only third years, and the Patronus is not on any third-year lesson plan--I had to take extracurricular lessons for it, because Dementors seem to be magnetically attracted to me, and whenever they came near I heard my parents being murdered. I knew I had to learn to protect myself, but it was the first time I had heard their voices since I was one, and I didn't especially want to lose that. I had to struggle with myself, to throw away that connection to my parents."

Several conflicting emotions were showing on Peter's face, including horror and awe, pity and fear. "That's...awful," Peter whispered. "I'm sorry."

Harry smiled lopsidedly. "It's not that bad," Harry assured him. "I don't even remember my parents, and I still have plenty of friends." Harry sighed again. "Though I haven't seen them since I started this job. I wonder what they're doing..." For one of the few times since he came back in time, Harry let himself think of Ron and Hermione and the Weasleys, Neville and Luna, and all the other people he left in his own time. He missed them, of course, but he knew they would want him to have the chance to get to know his parents.

Peter stayed silent as Harry mused, until Harry shook his head and smiled at Peter. Peter smiled back hesitantly.

"Don't let your doubts stop you, Peter," Harry told Peter kindly. "Doubts and fears are a normal thing to have, but don't let them control your life. Work hard to overcome them, and you'll be able to do nearly anything."

Peter nodded determinedly. "I will, Professor," he said firmly. "Thank you."

Harry smiled. "My pleasure, Peter." He stood up, stretching a bit. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I must be off. I'll see you in class." Peter nodded, and Harry strode out the door, closing it behind him.

Harry walked down the hallway, wondering yet again what had changed this determined, if rather mediocre, boy into a traitor willing to give up his best friends' lives for his own welfare.

Harry was startled out of his musings as he heard someone call "Professor!" from behind him. He turned around, and raised an eyebrow when he saw Sirius hurrying towards him, and oddly worried expression on his face. Harry stopped and waited until the other boy reached him.

"Is something wrong, Sirius?" Harry asked when Sirius stopped just a few feet away from him and caught his breath.

"It could be," Sirius said enigmatically, his brow furrowed. "I'm not sure yet."

"Then why don't you tell me what's bothering you, and we'll see," Harry invited, leaning up against one of the stone walls and gesturing for Sirius to join him. He did, but once he was there, he ran his fingers through his hair in an uncharacteristically nervous movement.

"I've got another one of those feelings, Professor," Sirius began, and Harry gave a sharp intake of breath, which Sirius ignored. "Do you know if anyone knows about these lessons that you're giving Remus and me?"

Harry blinked, then bit his lip, thinking. "Severus Snape knows..." Harry said slowly as he tried to think of more, "...and of course your own friends and the Headmaster, but other than that, I don't know of anyone. Why?"

Sirius clenched his teeth. "Snape knows, does he? S'pose he would...he does make it his business to know everything about us, after all...stupid greasy git..." he muttered.

Though privately Harry rather agreed with Sirius's assessment of Snape, he had to be impartial. "Sirius, be polite," he said mildly, and Sirius flushed a bit. "Now what was that feeling?"

Sirius bit his lip and grimaced. "Just that it's not a good idea for anyone to know about the lessons. I have no idea why, but whenever I think of telling someone, something in my mind tells me that it's just not a good idea. I've already told my friends, and they know enough about my hunches right now to believe me, so I just had to hunt you down. You're sure Snape knows?" Sirius was obviously hoping that Harry was mistaken, but Harry regretfully nodded his head.

"He heard somehow--he didn't say how though--that I was giving you and Remus lessons in resisting the Imperius curse, and came to me to ask for some other sort of lessons. You know him better than I do, would he tell someone else?" Harry asked, cocking his head at Sirius. Harry did know Snape fairly well, but Sirius probably knew him better, and Harry couldn't let Sirius know that he knew Snape that well anyway.

"Probably not," Sirius conceded, then pulled a face at having to describe Snape fairly. "He doesn't really tell things unless there's an advantage in it for him. Not sure where the advantage would be in telling people that Remus and I are taking extracurricular lessons. I just really hope he hasn't told Regulus."

Harry raised an eyebrow. "Regulus knowing would be worse than anyone else knowing?"

Sirius shrugged. "It's important that he especially doesn't know. I don't know why, but there it is." He gave another helpless little shrug, then pushed off from the wall. "I have to be going though, I promised Remus he could copy my notes from the last moon. See you later, Professor."

"See you later, Sirius," Harry called absently after Sirius was already several feet away, already thinking about what this new feeling of Sirius's could mean. Then he shrugged philosophically and moved on. He'd figure it out sometime, of that he was sure.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Several days later, it was the weekend, and a rather brilliantly sunny day for late November, so Harry decided to take advantage of it by going for a walk around the lake, then maybe a nice flight if there weren't any students around--having had the Gryffindor team catch him once, he didn't want any of the other teams to see what he could do and have more gawp at him. So he grabbed his broom and went outside, stopping for a moment to bask in the sunlight.

Then he just took off, and began his slow meander around the lake, broom slung over one shoulder for when he got to the far side and out of the eyeshot of the students. But once he got down to the lakeshore, he was surprised to see Lily Evans sitting alone on a rock, looking out over the calm waters.

He walked over to where she sat, his shoes scuffling over the gravel and making enough noise that Lily turned around to see who it was. When she saw it was him, she smiled and said, "Good morning, Professor."

"Good morning, Lily," Harry said, coming to a stop beside her. "Is there any particular reason you're sitting out here alone on a Saturday?"

Lily shook her head slightly. "Not really. I just come out here to think sometimes. It really is very nice, you know. The water's so calm, and it just makes me feel peaceful. It's my favorite spot to be when I need to think."

"Mind telling me what you were thinking about?" Harry asked, sitting down on a rock near Lily's and setting his broom gently on the sand. He hadn't found much chance to get to know his mother before, so he was definitely taking this opportunity.

"Just...ah...James," Lily said, her cheeks pinking a bit.

Harry smiled. _So she's thinking about Dad, then? Wonder if she'd be like this if she were still alive...no, don't go there, Potter. You are not to change the future,_ he told himself firmly, then spoke to Lily. "Ah yes, Mr. Potter. I recall seeing you two together in the Three Broomsticks in Hogsmeade awhile ago. You looked very nice together."

Lily looked back over the water, her cheeks still pink. "I never thought James could be so nice before," she replied. "He always seemed like such a prat before, but somewhere, that changed. I don't know if it was him that changed, or me."

"Probably both," Harry suggested. "If James was such a prat before, well," he shrugged, "that's just what boys are, before they start to grow up. And if you can see beyond the prat that he was, then you're growing up too."

Lily laughed. "I never thought to hear the words "James" and "grow up" in the same sentence before. He and most of his friends were so immature, always picking fights with the Slytherins and perpetuating the stupid house rivalries. Until James convinced me to give him a chance, I never thought they actually had reasons for disliking the Slytherins beyond that petty feud with Snape. I didn't know them at all, and now I'm sorry I judged them so harshly."

"We all judge people harshly, but it's the mark of a mature person who admits it," Harry said quietly, and Lily smiled.

"I wasn't so mature before, though. I saw in James Potter just what I wanted to see--the spiteful way he dealt with the Slytherins, his arrogance and self-conceit, and things like that. I didn't see everything else he was--his great loyalty to his friends, his compassion, and his sense of honor," Lily sighed dreamily.

Harry chuckled a bit. "Sounds like you're quite smitten with him now," he commented, and Lily considered the remark, then nodded shyly.

"Before this year, if I had to have chosen someone in James's group of friends, I would have chosen Remus," she confided. "He's really nice, and responsible. Probably the most responsible out of all of them. I'd actually had a crush on him once in fifth year, but that went away when he never responded to my overtures. But if I'd had to have chosen one of them, James would have been last on the list."

Harry listened with great interest. He'd never known that his mum used to have a crush on Remus, but he supposed it made sense; Remus was a very nice person, after all. It was just sort of weird to think of his mum liking anyone except his dad, though.

"And now you're finding that your opinion's changed ever since getting to know him better," Harry said, and Lily nodded. Harry smiled. "Well, from what I've seen of him so far this year, James is a very nice person. He's lucky to have you, you know."

"Thanks, Professor," Lily said, returning the smile, and looking out across the lake again. Taking the subtle hint, Harry stood up and stretched, then retrieved his broom.

"I'll see you in class, Lily. Have a nice day," Harry said, starting to walk away. Lily turned and smiled at him again, but didn't say anything else, and Harry continued his walk along the lake.

It was very nice to talk to his mother, and he'd like to do it again sometime, though hopefully he'd find more to talk about with her--talking about her love life with his father was a bit...disturbing. But he still had to maintain the teacher-student relationship, though that was getting harder with James, Sirius, and Remus already, and now adding Lily...he didn't know how long before he stopped being their teacher and started being their friend.

When he was a suitable distance away from the school and the Quidditch pitch and any students who may be watching, Harry swung his leg over his broom and kicked off, reveling in the feel of the wind in his hair again. He simply flew around for a bit before gliding low over the Forbidden Forest, seeing if he could find magical creatures by air better than by land.

Harry saw a flash of black in the forest, and with a frown, flew downward until he was amongst the trees themselves. He saw the flash moving north, so he carefully weaved between trees, trying catch a glimpse of the black thing again. But even after he flew rather far north, and circled around a few times, he couldn't find it again. The black thing had disappeared.


	14. Chapter 14

James sprawled out on the couch near the fire in the common room, his feet propped up on a footstool and his arm around Lily, who was leaning her head on his shoulder, curled up on the couch at his side, a book of his that he lent her lying upside down on her lap, though she wasn't reading at the moment. For the umpteenth time, he wondered at his good fortune to have Lily there beside him, and not hating him anymore.

"What are you thinking about?" Lily asked him, looking up at him with her smiling green eyes, and James couldn't help but smile back in response.

"I'm being sentimental," he told her, "and thinking about what a lucky bloke I am to be sitting here with a girl like you."

Lily chuckled softly. "I'd never have thought you the sentimental type," she commented. James snickered.

"What, not even with the Valentines I sent you fifth and sixth year? I'm hurt," he sniffed, and Lily smacked his arm lightly.

"James, those so-called Valentines only said that you thought I was the only girl who could even come close to your perfection. I wouldn't exactly call them sentimental," she retorted, and James grinned.

"You're right," he said, and Lily raised an eyebrow. "I don't even come close to your perfection."

Lily ducked her head, hiding a smile, and James squeezed her shoulders lightly. Just then Peter approached.

"James," he said, "would you mind coming upstairs and helping me with Transfiguration?"

James frowned. "Get Sirius to do it, he's as good with Transfiguration as I am."

Peter shook his head. "Sirius is with Remus, remember?" And, with a small groan, James did. Tonight was a full moon, and Sirius was probably already in the Shrieking Shack with Remus, though the moon wouldn't rise for another half hour yet.

James reluctantly took his arm from Lily's shoulders, and she uncurled herself, sitting up on the couch. "Where is Remus, by the way?" she asked lightly as James stood up and stretched.

"Hospital wing," Peter lied quickly and assuredly, having said the same thing countless times over the past few years. "He felt sick earlier today. Sirius walked him down there about an hour ago, and I guess is staying with him for awhile."

Lily smiled. "That's nice of him," she commented, and James nodded, then leaned over and kissed her on the forehead.

"Good night," he said, and when she returned it, he and Peter left, going upstairs to their dormitory.

"You don't really need help with Transfiguration, do you Pete?" James asked as soon as the door was closed. "Because we have to be down there in half an hour."

Peter rolled his eyes. "I'm not the one that forgot," he pointed out. "And it's nothing that can't wait until tomorrow. It was really just a convenient excuse to get you away from Lily so we can get the Cloak and meet Remus and Sirius down there."

"I would have remembered," James grumbled as he dug through his trunk for the Invisibility Cloak, still a bit miffed with Peter for taking him away from Lily. Peter just rolled his eyes again and waited for James to find the Cloak.

Once James dragged out his Cloak from the bottom of his trunk, and Peter climbed up on his shoulder as Wormtail--even if there were only two of them, it was still easier for one to wear the Cloak--he swirled the Cloak over his shoulders and left the dormitory, carefully closing the door behind him. He walked down the stairs, past Lily who was still sitting on the couch, this time reading a book, and over to the portrait hole, where he waited for it to open. Luckily he didn't have to wait long before a couple fourth-years climbed in, and James quickly climbed out before the portrait could shut itself on him.

James snuck out of the castle without much trouble and hurried down the lawn towards the Whomping Willow, glancing up at the dark sky every once in awhile, making sure the moon hadn't started to rise yet. He prodded the knot on the tree trunk and walked quickly down the passageway, then pulled himself out of the hole and into the Shrieking Shack, climbing upstairs to find Sirius pacing outside the closed bedroom door.

"What took you?" he asked as James shrugged off the Cloak, hiding it in the normal spot, a cupboard off the hall which he then locked.

"I was talking to Lily when Pete came," James explained. Sirius rolled his eyes, muttering something about Lily, which James graciously decided to excuse, as Sirius was never himself on full moon days, especially after the whole Snape thing last year. James privately thought that Sirius still feared Moony's rejection of his friendship, which had happened last year for months until Remus grudgingly forgave him. He always seemed nervous that Moony would still reject him as a packmate, so he was afraid of doing anything lately that would make Remus unhappy or angry with him.

But Sirius was always edgy before the full moon rose, and James couldn't blame him. When they first started joining him, Remus stated implacably that he did not want them watching him transform, so they always waited outside until it was over, when one of them would open the door with their wand and then quickly change shapes before Moony could get more than a sniff of their scents. But James remembered the first moon they joined him in fifth year, the three of them waiting anxiously outside, not entirely sure how they would know when Remus was done transforming. They were totally unprepared for the screaming when it came, and Peter had had to restrain James and Sirius from leaping into the room, bent on stopping whatever was causing Remus pain. It was only belatedly that they realized it was the transformation itself that caused such agony, and James knew why Remus didn't want them to see it. Sirius especially hated it, since he didn't like seeing his friends in pain--one of the few times that James could remember him being gentle and patient with Peter was when they saw the bruises on his neck one year at King's Cross. But now they knew that when the screams, which would gradually change into yelps and growls, stopped, Remus was Moony, and they could be with him.

Peter as Wormtail hopped off James's shoulder, and James quickly changed into Prongs, just in time to see the moonlight start to seep into the corridor from a window, and to hear harsh panting and whimpers from the next room as the transformation started in. Sirius gritted his teeth and his pacing quickened, though he stopped abruptly when the noises in the other room stopped. Then he took a deep breath and sent sparks at the door, his shape twisting and becoming Padfoot before the door had even swung open all the way.

Moony padded into the hall, stopping for a moment and staring at the Animagi before him before he remembered that they were his pack and bounding forward to join them. Padfoot turned away and led the way down the stairs and into the passageway, quickly followed by Moony, then Wormtail and Prongs. They squeezed out of the roots of the Whomping Willow, Prongs will some trouble as his antlers got caught in roots and branches, but with a few deft twists of his head, he was out and catching up with Padfoot, who was herding Moony away from the school and the village with little nips and other invitations to play. Then he turned a ran straight into the Forbidden Forest, Moony hesitating for a few seconds before following him.

Prongs let Wormtail climb up on his head and settle between his antlers before cantering off after the two canines. He entered the forest and walked behind Moony and Padfoot, who had their noses to the ground, sniffing as they went along. Then, all of a sudden, Moony's ears perked up, he raised his head, and before Prongs could blink, he was off and running further into the forest. Mentally cursing, Prongs galloped off after him, Padfoot at his heels.

The three Animagi raced off after their wayward werewolf friend, Prongs leaping gracefully over short ditches and racing through the underbrush as Wormtail clung tightly to his antlers and Padfoot ran ahead, nose twitching as he stayed on Moony's tail. If Prongs had been looking straight ahead rather than at his hooves, making sure he didn't trip over any roots or anything, he would have seen that he was very quickly approaching a lit-up clearing that Moony was sitting right in the middle of. But as it was, Prongs was looking at his hooves, so when Padfoot skidded to a halt right in front of him, Prongs could barely check his momentum enough to stop hitting the dog Animagus. It was only then that he looked up, and took a few steps backwards in surprise.

And he saw centaurs. Two of them, in fact, one that seemed to be roan and another black. But it wasn't the fact that there were centaurs there that surprised him. He knew very well that centaurs lived in the Forbidden Forest, because some of them were Hagrid's friends and he would talk about them every once in awhile. No, what was surprising was that the roan one was scratching Moony's head, without getting his hand bitten off, and that Moony's tongue was lolling out. Prongs knew, in the back of his mind where James was looking out of his counterpart's eyes, that Sirius, when he wasn't Padfoot, would be reminding Remus of this moment at every available opportunity, and a few that weren't.

"You are surprised," stated the roan, looking up at Prongs, though without stopping his head-scratching, which Moony obviously appreciated. Prongs blinked a few times--how could a centaur know if he was surprised or not? For that matter, how did the centaur know he wasn't an ordinary stag?--when the other centaur elaborated.

"We know that you are not-beasts," the black said, and Prongs snorted, saying without words that that wasn't helpful. He stamped a hoof impatiently, _looking_ at the roan and communicating that he would like to know how he could still have both his hands when he was scratching a wild werewolf.

"He is a werewolf," the roan said, and Prongs was about to snort again because he _knew_ that, when the roan continued. "As a werewolf, he is a magical creature. We centaurs are also magical creatures. Werewolves do not attack their own."

Padfoot yipped and wagged his tail, which was his way of saying, _Yes, we get it, now how did you know we're Animagi?_ Not in those precise words, of course, but that's what Prongs took them to mean, because he was wondering the same thing. And that's what the centaurs chose to answer, so if it wasn't what Padfoot had originally meant, no one cared.

"You are not-beasts," the black repeated, and Prongs had to stop himself from snorting again. _What is it with centaurs and stating the obvious...? They either state the obvious, or state the obscure. How useful that is..._ "True beasts, especially of three different species, do not run around with werewolves."

Prongs considered this, and reluctantly decided that centaurs were rather smart after all. Or at least that their eyes weren't glued to the stars all the time, anyway. Padfoot yipped again, which Prongs took to mean, _Okay, that's all right then. Let's go now._ Prongs looked to Moony, who was far more adept at understanding Padfoot's canine signals, but Moony was still drooling on the leaves below his paws as the roan continued to scratch him, so Prongs decided that either Padfoot's yip hadn't meant what he'd thought it meant, or Moony was just ignoring it.

They waited around in the clearing for another few minutes, but the roan showed no signs of stopping, and Moony showed no signs of getting tired of the scratching and wanting to leave, so Prongs stamped a hoof impatiently.

"In such a hurry, young not-stag?" the roan murmured, not looking up. "It is a good thing you are doing for your friend here. These nights, which would normally be such a torment for him, are transformed into some of the best nights he will ever have. Don't be in such a hurry to move on, not when you have something good right now."

Prongs cocked his head, considering the centaur's words, and mentally shrugged, deciding they might as well stay there for awhile. He folded his knees under him and carefully lay down. Padfoot trotted over to him and plopped down next to him, laying his head on his forepaws and giving his tail a short wag.

They stayed like that for another few minutes when the black suddenly spoke up again, causing Prongs's drooping head to fly up again in surprise.

"Things will not all be as they seem," the centaur said abruptly, and Prongs rolled his eyes, a decidedly human gesture in an animal body. _Since when are things always as they seem?_ But the centaur just ignored it. "They will affect you especially, you four not-beasts. You must be wary in whom you place your trusts, and remember that even affable exterior can hide an unfriendly soul."

If Prongs had been James, he would have said something like, "Well, thanks for the advice. Can't say I've never heard it before, but thanks all the same." Or at least, he would have said something like that if he didn't care about possibly offending the centaurs. Therefore it was a good thing that James was Prongs, because Prongs couldn't speak and possibly get himself into trouble.

Then finally, as if the centaurs had said all they wanted to say and did all they wanted to do, at least in regards to the four Marauders before them, the roan stopped scratching Moony's head. Moony whined and thumped his tail on the ground, but didn't protest beyond that, and with one last nod of goodbye, the centaurs galloped off out of the clearing. Moony and Padfoot leapt to their feet, and waited courteously for Prongs to lever himself up.

For the next several hours, they just explored the forest some more. Several times, Moony would stop and his ears would prick up, and the other three would tense up in case he bolted again, but then the ears would come down and they would continue on their merry way. At one time, Prongs saw a patch of mushrooms that were a violent purple, and as he stepped over them a sickly sweet smelled drifted around him and wrapping his brain in fog, but he shook his head quickly and the foggy feeling in his head dispersed. He reminded himself to avoid all violently purple mushrooms in the future, and moved on.

The sky was beginning to lighten, and Prongs looked up through a gap in the trees, seeing the moon start to set. He shared a significant glance with Padfoot, who leapt in front of the exploring Moony, and with a few gentle nips, herded him back the direction they knew Hogwarts was in. Moony allowed himself to be herded, though after they'd gotten to the edge of the forest and he saw the Whomping Willow, he made as if to turn around and run deep into the forest again. But both Prongs and Padfoot moved around to block his path, and, snarling, Moony reluctantly slunk out of the forest and towards the Willow. Padfoot nipped his sides a bit to get him to hurry, and Moony picked up his pace, dashing into the Willow, the other three following him.

Now Moony appeared to know what he was supposed to be doing, because he went straight to the bedroom, and not a moment too soon, because just as he crossed the threshold, the moon set, and after another agonizing few minutes, Moony was Remus again, collapsed on the floor. The other three resumed their normal forms, Sirius and James picking Remus up and setting him in the bed. Once Remus was settled under the covers, yawning, James looked up at the other two.

"You don't mind if I go now, do you?" he asked hesitantly. "There's a prefect meeting later on today that I have to be at, and as Remus is getting his own sleep right now, I need to get some too."

Sirius just waved his explanation off. "It's okay, Prongs. You go get some sleep so your Lily-flower doesn't have an excuse to rag at you during the meeting. Pete and I will catch up to you later."

James nodded. "I'll leave you two the Cloak and the Map for when Pomfrey comes."

The others nodded, except for Remus, who was already asleep, and James left the Shack, hoisted himself out of the hole between the roots of the Willow, and set off for Gryffindor Tower, mentally readying a few excuses for any teachers or Slytherins he might happen to meet on the way. But one person he did not have an excuse ready for was Lily, who was waiting for him in the common room, despite the early hour.

"Good morning, James," Lily said neutrally, and James stopped as soon as he saw her, mentally groaning. "Mind telling me where you were last night?"

"I...er..." James said, unwilling to lie to Lily, but also unwilling to tell her what he was doing. Lily nodded and sighed.

"That's what I thought. Playing pranks on the Slytherins?"

James shook his head, relieved that it was the truth, and Lily raised an eyebrow.

"Oh really? Then where exactly were you all night? And don't tell me you just got up early; I looked in your dorm room to return that book of yours I borrowed, and none of the four of you were there," Lily said, narrowing her eyes at him.

"I...can't tell you, Lily," James replied, and cringed as Lily just looked at him, a slightly disappointed and hurt look in her eyes. James bit his lip; he hated to hurt her, but he promised he wouldn't tell anyone, not without Remus's permission, and he wouldn't.

"Oh. All right then, James," she said coolly, the tone of voice she'd used whenever she turned him down, and James cringed again. But she stepped aside and James started up the stairs to his dormitory, fervently hoping that she wouldn't break up with him over this. He'd tell her later, if Remus said it was okay. Yes, later...he closed the door behind him, and was asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow.


	15. Chapter 15

"So what, Mr. Snape, are you expecting to get out of these lessons?" Harry asked as he sat behind his desk and gazed steadily at Snape, who was right on time for their first dueling lesson.

"Better dueling skills, of course," Snape replied, though a roll of his eyes implied he was also saying _'What else is the point of lessons?'_ Harry let the rolled eyes pass--it was more important to find out exactly _why_ Snape wanted better dueling skills.

So Harry, leaning back in his seat, asked, "For any particular reason? Several people in this school have given me the impression that your dueling skills leave little to be desired."

Snape shifted around a bit in his chair, flicking his eyes downwards and then back up so quickly that Harry nearly missed it. "Dueling isn't something that you can just stop learning," Snape said coolly, nearly coolly enough to cover up his earlier hesitation, but Harry caught it, and tucked it back into a corner of his mind for later examination.

"Okay. What are your expectations _for_ these lessons, then?" Harry asked. "Is there anything special that you want me to teach you, or think that I should?"

Snape considered this for a moment before slowly shaking his head. "I'll see what my expectations are after our first duel," he said.

"Fair enough," Harry replied, then stood up and walked around to the front of his desk, taking out his wand and banishing the desks and chairs to the walls, leaving a wide space in the middle of the classroom for the two to duel in. They took up positions on opposite sides of the room, bowed, extended their wands, and then the duel began.

Curses began flying rampant around the room, Harry dodging Snape's wand-created arrows, Snape ducking under Harry's Confundus Charm. Harry had a few seconds to admire Snape's agility before shouting a quick shield spell, just before Snape's well-aimed Incendio nearly scorched him.

" _Eructo!_ " Harry yelled, and saw a brief flash of Snape bending over, vomiting, before he followed up with, " _Depulso!_ " Snape flew backward to land heavily on the desks against the wall, though before Harry could use the Disarming Spell, he'd rolled to his feet and was already firing off another hex.

Harry dodged the Impedient Jinx with ease and shot a jet of water at his student, which hit him on the arm, soaking the sleeve of his robe. Snape retaliated with a Stinging Hex to Harry's wand hand, but Harry managed to hang onto his wand despite the pain the hex caused.

On and on the duel went, until finally Harry shot a fire spell at the hem of Snape's robes, and while he was distracted by the fire, yelled, " _Expelliarmus!_ " Snape's wand flew out of his hand and into Harry's own. Harry leisurely put out the fire, and Snape looked up at Harry with an unreadable look on his face.

"Nice duel," Harry said, tossing Snape's wand back at him. He caught it, and narrowed his eyes at Harry, as if that had not been the reaction he was expecting. But he didn't say anything, just kept his wand held out, and began twirling it between his fingers.

"Nice duel," Harry repeated, "though there may be a few things that you want to watch out for. First of all, don't get distracted. With that last fire spell I used, you could have rolled on the ground to put it out, along with presenting me with a moving target. And there's several times that you've hesitated before cursing me again. Try not to hesitate as much as possible. Is there anything you would like to say?"

Snape stopped twirling his wand, apparently truly thinking about the question. "I can ask any question, and you won't get angry?" he asked abruptly, and Harry raised an eyebrow. _What kind of question does he want to ask that might make me angry?_

"Ask away," Harry said. "I can't promise that I'll answer it without knowing what it is, but I won't ever get angry at you for a question. That's how you learn."

Snape glanced suspiciously at him, as if mistrusting Harry's quick agreement, but asked his question anyway. "...Would you teach me Dark Arts spells as well?"

Harry blinked, taken aback. _He's asking the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher for Dark Arts spells?_ Harry looked at Snape, but he seemed sincere, and the Snape he knew wouldn't have asked that question for a joke. _Are there even any Dark Arts spells that I know and he doesn't?_ Harry wondered, remembering Snape's reputation.

"What makes you think that I know Dark Arts spells?" Harry asked, buying time for him to think about whether to agree or disagree.

Snape snorted. "Professor, already you've taught us more about the Unforgivables than I've been able to read in any book outside the Restricted Section, and you are experienced enough in your subject to teach us as well as you do. If I'm not mistaken, part of that experience includes countering Dark spells, and to counter Dark spells, you must know what they are in the first place. Besides that, you've never denied fighting in the war. The Dark Lord's supporters use Dark spells more often than not, so you would have seen them that way."

Harry blinked. _He must have been thinking a lot about this..._ "Well, alright then. I do know several Dark spells, though I don't like to use them more than I have to. But why do _you_ want to learn them?"

"To be able to know and recognize anything an enemy might throw at me," Snape answered promptly, leading Harry to believe that he'd been preparing this answer as well, though it wasn't anything Harry could call him on. "I have to know what I'm up against if I want to be able to effectively counter it."

Harry blinked again, and then shrugged. _He probably already knows anything that I could teach him anyway,_ he reasoned. _He did have that reputation for knowing more Dark spells in his first year than the seventh years, and I certainly don't know that many. Just what I learned from the war, as he's already figured out._ Harry's respect for Snape increased. _He doesn't want to seem suspicious for knowing so many Dark spells, so by getting me to "teach" him, he's effectively smoke screening everyone. He could tell them that he learned them from me, if someone asks, that way both getting suspicion off him and onto me! I'm tempted to refuse, but how can I? He has presented a logical argument, and maybe if I'm the one to teach him, I can instill a few more morals in the process._ His mind now made up, Harry smiled at Snape.

"Very well, then," he said. "Would you rather learn in a classroom setting, with me teaching the spells and you repeating them, or would you like to be presented with them in a duel?"

"A duel," Snape replied immediately. "It will be much more interesting that way."

Harry nodded. "A duel it is, then. But this will not be just a Dark Arts duel--I'm afraid I don't know enough Dark spells for that. After the duel is over, you can identify with spells were Dark and which ones were not."

Snape nodded, then took up the dueling position again, his wand held out in front of him, Harry opposite him in the same position. They bowed to each other, and then the next duel began.

Again, curses began flying across the room, but this time doing more damage to each participant. Harry hit Snape's arm with a Dark cutting spell, which sliced open his skin and blood started trickling down his arm, but it wouldn't be clotting; that was why that particular spell was Dark. Blood started pooling on the floor, and Harry resisted the urge to warn Snape not to slip in it. If Snape was any good at being observant and logical--which Harry had to concede that he was--he would know to avoid the blood.

" _Oculi Decipio!_ " Snape shouted, disregarding the blood that dripped down his arm, and Harry cursed as the spell hit him full on. Immediately the Hallucination Hex began taking effect on his eyes, causing him to see strange things all over the room. But Harry ignored the dancing purple people around Snape and the bouncing mangoes on the desk, and closed his eyes, concentrating on sound rather than sight. He'd end the spell as soon as Snape gave him room to.

Then Snape shouted a wind spell that would have grabbed him, swirled him around, and slammed him against the wall, had he been in his original spot. Hearing the wind swooping towards him, Harry ducked out of the way, then pointed his wand at his eyes, muttering, " _Finite Incantatem._ " He opened his eyes, and the room was back to the way it had been before the spell hit, save that he and Snape were in different positions, and Snape was looking infuriated that Harry had defeated both of his spells, though his contained his anger and shot off an ice spell, which Harry dodged with ease.

The duel went on, and Snape began to tire visibly, as his movements and dodges became slower, and more spells hit him than had before. Harry knew that blood loss was beginning to take a toll on him, so he raised his wand, about to cast a spell that would end the duel, when Snape suddenly smiled, and said, " _Serpensortia._ "

Harry froze as the snake burst from Snape's wand and started to slither towards him. _Just like second year,_ he thought, his eyes focused on the snake. _Now how can I get out of this without giving myself away...?_

Harry glanced at Snape, waiting for him to cast another spell while Harry was distracted with the snake, but Snape was tearing strips of his robe off and binding them around the cut on his arm, trying to slow the bleeding. Harry raised his arm to hex Snape while he was trying to bandage his arm, but the snake slithered faster towards him, and he yelled off the first spell he could think of, the Impediment Jinx, which froze the snake for a few seconds before it started coming after him again.

Harry flung and ice spell at it, then, as it was still unaffected, a Stunner, which it just shook off. After a few minutes, Snape joined the fray again, but whenever Harry took his attention off the snake to try and curse Snape again, the snake lunged at him, its fangs snapping perilously close to his ankle again and again. So Harry set a spell letting him know when any spells were coming towards his back, and concentrated on the snake.

However, he soon realized that the snake had to be a magical entity, especially coming from a spell, and so other spells had little to no effect on it. It was time to try the one thing he knew would work, because it had worked before. He just had to figure out a way to make sure Snape never told anyone.

He closed his eyes, then opened them and looked down at the snake, poised to strike at his leg again. " _Stop_ ," he hissed in Parseltongue, and the snake froze. In the background, Harry heard Snape drop his wand in surprise, but he didn't pay any attention to that. He had to deal with the snake right now.

" _You...you are a snake-speaker!_ " the snake hissed back, then curled itself back in apology. _"Forgive me for trying to attack you!_ "

" _You are forgiven_ ," Harry told the snake. " _Neither you nor the one who called you had any knowledge of what I am, and I cannot hold that against you. But I'm sure I can trust that you won't be attacking me again?_ "

" _Never!_ " the snake cried, unfurling itself in its enthusiasm. " _We cannot hurt the snake-speakers; it is part of our pact! Please, let me serve you to try and make up for nearly attacking you!_ "

Harry sighed. " _You may stay with me_ ," he said, " _but I would like to be told more about this 'pact' later. And once I have time, there are a few things that I will need to explain to you._ "

The snake nodded fervently, an extremely odd gesture to see a snake doing, and Harry heard the clatter of a dropped wand behind him yet again, then a soft scrape against the floor as it was picked up. " _Yes, Master!_ " it said. " _I shall do whatever you wish of me!_ "

Harry winced at being called 'Master'. " _First things first, don't call me Master,_ " he advised. The snake nodded again, then slithered up his robes and curled itself around his shoulders. " _Now I must deal with the one who called you here._ " The snake nodded again, and, satisfied that the snake wouldn't do any more harm, Harry turned to Snape, who was staring at him, his face pale.

"You're a Parselmouth," Snape stated, clutching his wand so tightly that his knuckles were white, his eyes wide.

Harry nodded, fixing a stern expression on his face, and Snape gulped. Harry supposed he must be an imposing sight, staring at Snape sternly with a snake around his neck. A part of him blinked at the sight of Snape afraid of him, but he ignored that part and said, "I can trust you not to mention this to anyone, can't I, Mr. Snape?"

Snape nodded quickly. "I won't tell anyone," he promised.

"Good," Harry said mildly. "Because I would really hate to have to give you a month's worth of detentions and take one hundred points away from Slytherin for being indiscreet about a professor, wouldn't you?" Snape nodded again, and Harry inclined his head towards the door. "It's nearly curfew, so you should get going. I'll be seeing you in class, Mr. Snape."

Nodding again, though his face was still pale and his knuckles white, Snape strode out the door, not looking back at Harry. Once he was gone, Harry slumped against the nearest wall, rubbing his temples.

"Well, now I'm going to have to go see Dumbledore," he said aloud.

_"Who is this Dumbledore, and why must you see him, M--ah, what should I call you if you don't wish to be called Master?"_ the snake asked as Harry set off out the door and down the hallways towards Dumbledore's office.

_"Just call me Harry,"_ Harry replied. _"And as for Dumbledore, he's the headmaster of this school. Since it is rather important, and because I don't need anyone knowing that I'm a Parselmouth, I'd better tell him."_

_"Ah,"_ the snake said, and was silent. Harry reached the gargoyle guarding the headmaster's office, and spoke the password--Fizzing Whizbees--and watched as the gargoyle moved aside, revealing the moving stairs towards the office itself. Once he was at the top, Harry knocked on the door, and at the headmaster's invitation, entered.

"Ah, Harry," the headmaster said jovially as Harry entered, putting the quill in his hand down on the parchment he had just been writing on, and waving Harry to take a seat, which he did. "What may I do for you?" His eyes flicked to the snake on Harry's shoulder, but he showed no signs that anything was wrong.

"You remember how I told you that I would be giving Mr. Snape dueling lessons?" Harry asked, and Dumbledore nodded. "Well, the first of those was tonight, and Mr. Snape was enterprising enough to cast the Serpensortia spell."

"And that's where this lovely snake on your shoulder came from, I presume," Dumbledore asked, and the snake lifted its head, gazing at the old man. "But if it came from Serpensortia against you, then why is it on your shoulder?"

Harry sighed. Now came the part that he'd been hoping to keep from the headmaster, though he supposed he wouldn't have been able to keep it that much longer--Dumbledore was very good at figuring things out that most people would rather have kept to themselves. "I'm a Parselmouth, sir," Harry said evenly, and watched as Dumbledore blinked in surprise. _So things do surprise him sometimes!_ Harry thought amusedly.

But Dumbledore got his surprise under control very quickly. "Lemon drop?" he offered, holding the tin of Muggle candy out to Harry, who refused it with a shake of his head and a roll of his eyes. Dumbledore took one himself and popped it in his mouth before putting the tin away. He sucked on it in silence for a while before he said, "So I assume young Mr. Snape knows of your ability as well?"

Harry nodded in resignation. "I would have preferred to keep it from him, but the snake here seems to be impervious to most magic, so the only thing I could think of to get it to stop trying to attack me was to speak to it. After I talked to it for a while, it decided that it wanted to stay with me, and I told Mr. Snape to not tell anyone or he would find himself in detention for a month and losing one hundred house points."

Dumbledore chuckled. "You handled that very well, then," he commented. "I believe we can trust Mr. Snape not to tell anyone. Now may I ask how you ended up with this ability?"

Harry shifted in his seat. "It's something that will...be rather important in the future," he said, " so I can't really tell you right now, except that I was not born with it."

Dumbledore raised an eyebrow at that, but seemed to accept for now that it was not something that Harry was disposed to talk about. "Very well, then," he said, leaning back in his chair. "Does this snake have a name?"

Harry blinked. He hadn't thought of that. Quickly he asked the snake, _"Do you have a name? It is probably not very polite of me to keep referring to you as 'snake.'"_ As Harry spoke in Parseltongue, he saw Dumbledore's eyebrow go up even higher, but he ignored it.

_"I have no name but what you might give me, Harry,"_ the snake replied. Harry smiled at how it had remembered to call him by his name, but frowned again.

"It doesn't have a name, sir," he reported to the headmaster. "I don't suppose you have any suggestions as to a good one?"

Dumbledore's eyes twinkled. "How about Sara?" he suggested. "It is a female, isn't it?"

Harry quickly conferred with the snake on both counts, and then smiled. "That's what she says, sir. And she says that Sara is a good name, and she'll be glad to be called that."

"Good, good," Dumbledore said. "Now if that's all, then you might want to go put Sara in your quarters. We wouldn't want someone to be afraid of her, would we?" he winked.

Harry laughed, and stood up. "Thank you, Professor. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Good night, Harry," he replied, and Harry left, with Sara around his neck, still smiling.


	16. Chapter 16

"Oi, Prongs, wake up! Presents!" James, who had just been about to tell Sirius to sod off, immediately sat up at the word "presents". As Sirius laughed at him, he rubbed his eyes, then groped for his glasses and slid them onto his face to see the large pile of presents at the foot of his bed.

"You get Moony and Wormtail up yet?" James asked as he slid off his bed and knelt next to his pile of presents.

Sirius, who was laying on his stomach on his own bed with wrapping paper strewed all around him, rolled his eyes and grinned. "They've already gotten up and opened their presents. It's just you who was being such a lazy arse as to not want to get up on Christmas morning."

James snorted. "So you decided to wake me up at..." he looked at his watch "...nine o'clock just so I could open presents? I'm touched, Padfoot. I suppose you've already opened yours?"

Sirius nodded, grinning, then stood up and stretched. "I'm down to breakfast with Moony and Worms. You might want to hurry up with opening those, though. A certain flower is waiting for you in the common room. Says she wants to give you your present personally." Sirius walked over to James and affectionately mussed his hair and knocked his glasses off, then danced away when James took a swipe at him. Laughing, he left the room as James shoved his glasses on his face again.

Several bags of dungbombs, Honeydukes chocolates, Quidditch posters of his favorite team, the Montrose Magpies, and clothes from his parents, later, James finally shrugged into a pair of Muggle trousers and a shirt, and walked down to the common room, the box that held his gift for Lily in hand.

When he got to the common room, Lily stood up from the chair she had been sitting in, then crossed the room and gave him a kiss on the cheek.

"Merry Christmas, James," she said as she pulled away, then took his hand and drew him over to the sofa in front of the fire.

"Merry Christmas, Lily," he said warmly as he sat down. She'd been a bit cold to him for the past couple weeks, ever since he'd refused to tell her what he had been doing on the night of the full moon. He was glad that she'd given that up for Christmas at least.

"Here," she said, pressing a neatly wrapped present in his hands. "Open this first." She sat back and waited as he tore off the paper, and drew out a book. James blinked. _Why'd she get me a book?_

"Ah--thank you, Lily," he said, looking down at the bound book lying in his hands. But she laughed, and he raised an eyebrow.

"Open it," she commanded him, so James, an eyebrow still raised quizzically, turned to the first page. His fingers ran over the page, then he looked up at her and smiled. She grinned back at him, a mischievous look in her green eyes.

"You like?" she teased, and James chuckled, turning the pages. It was a photo album with pictures of him after all that pranks that had been played on him over the past seven years...James with green hair and silver skin from third year, James with elephant ears from fourth, even James with miniature deer horns and a tufted tail--that one was a legacy of one of their first attempts at the Animagus transformation, though they'd told everyone it had been a prank gone wrong.

"You've really been collecting over the years..." he replied, turning pages and seeing picture after picture of him with oddly colored hair or skin, and various other things they'd been pranked with. He wondered where she'd gotten all the pictures. Though he _did_ remember some pictures being taken after a humiliating prank gone wrong, but this many?

"Anytime you became unbearable, I'd console myself with these," she said, her eyes dancing wickedly. "But now that I need them no longer, I bequeath them to you. Just remember, I have the negatives."

Startled, James looked up from the photo album, and started chuckling. "Where'd you get them all?" he asked.

Now Lily couldn't hold her own laughter in. She broke into giggles. "S-sirius," she choked out. "He'd always got a picture of you after someone got you. Remember?"

James groaned. He did remember--Sirius always insisted on getting pictures of any of them when something went wrong, so he could laugh over them; though to be fair, they'd done the same for him. "He gave them to you?" James asked. Lily nodded, still giggling, and James narrowed his eyes. "So that's why he was so eager for me to get down here...well. This means I must dig out all my old pictures of him in embarrassing positions. I wonder if he'd like to see them posted all over the common room..."

But Lily playfully shook a finger at him. "Nuh-uh-uh," she said. "No retaliating against my partner-in-crime. Or me, because how would that look to people? You pranking your girlfriend because of a Christmas present?"

James smiled, all thoughts of revenge against Sirius forgotten at the warmth he felt when Lily referred to herself as his girlfriend. What he'd have given to hear her call herself that years ago...with a jolt, he remembered his own present for her, laying on the sofa next to him. He picked it up and pressed it into her hands, mumbling, "I hope you like it..."

Lily, still giggling a bit, unwrapped the paper and opened the small box, and gasped. She carefully lifted out the gold chain with the ivory lily bordered in gold, and held it up in front of her. "James," she breathed, looking more closely at the flower, then turning it over, where _To Lily, the brightest flower in my life, from James_ was engraved in tiny cursive handwriting.

"Do you like it?" James asked awkwardly, as she looked at him, her emerald eyes wide. Then, unexpectedly, she threw her arms around his neck, the chain still clutched tightly in her fist. Then she drew back slightly, and kissed him soundly on the mouth, while he sat still in surprise at her enthusiastic reaction.

"It's beautiful, James," she said, and kissed him again to show her appreciation. "It's beautiful. Thank you..."

"Ah, you're welcome," he replied fuzzily, still a bit taken aback. "Here, let me put it on you--" He reached for the necklace, and she turned around so he could put it on. Once he did, she faced him again, then looked fondly down at it.

They sat in silence for a few minutes before James asked, "Have you eaten breakfast yet?" Lily shook her head, so James stood up and offered her his hand, which she took with a smile, and they left the common room.

Once they got to the Gryffindor table, Lily broke away from James to go sit with her friends, and James went to go sit with his. He found Sirius inhaling his breakfast, as usual, Peter reading the newspaper, and Remus reading a book. Both Remus and Peter said "Merry Christmas" without looking up, so James rolled his eyes and returned the greeting before sitting down and turning to Sirius as he grabbed a plate and shoved food on it.

"Sirius," he said, and Sirius swallowed, then grinned at him.

"James?" he returned, still grinning madly. Remus and Peter put down what they were reading to watch the events with interest.

"You've been collaborating with my girlfriend," he said, trying to be stern.

"Have I, Jamsie?" Sirius asked, the very picture of innocence, which James knew was all an act, as he had seen the same thing often before with their teachers.

"You have," James said gravely. "And for that, you must pay."

"But what crime am I charged with?" Sirius protested, gazing at James with big blue eyes. James snorted. Puppy eyes may work on girls, but it wouldn't work on him.

"Conspiracy to embarrass me," James replied primly, and Remus and Peter, who had been watching the proceedings with interest, let out twin snorts of laughter.

"Do tell," Remus said. "Sirius embarrassed James again?"

"Lies, all lies, I tell you!" Sirius exclaimed, but his grin betrayed him.

"How did Sirius embarrass James again?" Peter asked, raising an eyebrow. James felt like groaning. This conversation was not going the way he'd wanted it to.

"I don't know what James is talking about, Pete," Sirius said, sniffing. "I'm hurt at his unsolicited accusations. I don't recall anything that I've done lately that would embarrass him. Unless..."

"Unless...?" Remus prompted, grinning himself.

Now Sirius looked wide-eyed and horrified, as if he hadn't meant to do whatever he'd done. "Unless our dear Prongs is talking about Lily's Christmas present for him."

Remus gasped melodramatically. " _James_ ," he said, " _Lily's Christmas present?_ It _embarrassed_ you? Oh, poor Jamsie!" Peter and Sirius snickered, and James _really_ wished he hadn't brought it up now. Oh well. Too late to save what dignity he had left. At least he'd take Sirius down with him.

So he said, "Don't forget, Sirius," and fixed him with a stern hazel eye. "I've got embarrassing pictures of _you_ too, and I'd be perfectly willing to donate a few to the d�cor of our common room."

But Sirius just waved his threat off. "Go ahead," he dismissed. "It's nothing nobody's seen before."

Peter's eyes widened, and James realized that Remus and Peter didn't know what he and Sirius were talking about. For all they knew, James and Sirius were talking about pictures of each other naked or something. James briefly debated letting Peter embarrass himself by asking them, but decided not to. Lily wouldn't approve.

"Lily gave me a photo album full of pictures of me after someone's played a prank on me, most of which she got from Sirius," James said kindly to Peter, and Peter relaxed, just as Remus laughed.

"You _will_ let us see this photo album, won't you, James?" Remus asked innocently. James groaned and put his head in his hands.

"I can't exactly stop you, can I?" he asked, already knowing the answer as Remus shook his head, grinning.

"Well," Sirius said brightly, "now that James is done accusing me, is there anything else we can do? Like, say, a snowball fight?"

Remus and Peter immediately stood up, but James said, "I'll be out later; I have to eat first."

Sirius pouted. "You're no fun! Ignore the food! Hear the call of the snow. It's calling you, James. Listen to its call..."

James hit Sirius lightly on the shoulder. "Stop that. It's disturbing. And I can't believe that _you_ are telling me to ignore food. Which I won't, or otherwise I won't be up to my full potential during the snowball fight and I'll embarrass you and we'll lose to the Slytherins, and how will you feel then?"

Sirius sniffed primly. "Fine, eat your food. We wouldn't want ickle Prongs to faint from hunger, after all. Come along, Moony, Wormtail!" And Sirius stood up and strode away, Remus and Peter following him and muffling laughter.

James ate his breakfast, resolving to shove snow down Sirius's shirt and bewitch snowballs to continually hit him. He'd probably think it was the Slytherins who'd done it, too. He quickly finished his breakfast and was about to leave the table when he decided to ask Lily to join the fight. She never had before, but maybe she would today...

So he walked up to where she was sitting with her friends and tapped her on the shoulder. When she turned around and smiled at him, he said, "There's the big inter-house snowball fight going on right now, Lily. Would you like to join us and fight for the honor of Gryffindor?"

Lily shook her head, smiling amusedly now. "No, you go on. I don't feel the need to bash people with snow to feel like a Gryffindor. Just tell me how it went, after you're done freezing."

"Oh, come on, Lily," he cajoled. "It'll be fun, I promise! Everyone else has fun." But Lily still shook her head, and James gave up. He sighed. "Fine. I'll see you later, then?" She nodded, and he kissed her on the cheek before he went outside.

As soon as he appeared on the front steps of the castle, he ducked an oncoming snowball, which hit the door behind him. Over by the rocks near the lake he could make out people wearing red-and-gold scarves, so he sprinted over to them, ducking snowballs on the way. Once he got there, he ducked behind a rock, and asked Sirius, who was crouching a couple feet away, "How is it going so far?"

"The Ravenclaws were nearly already gone when we got here," Sirius replied, "but not many of them showed up anyway. The Slytherins are out en masse and are building a fort between the school and the Willow. The Hufflepuffs are over by Hagrid's hut, and are doing pretty well. And we're still fine."

"You have someone making snowballs?" James asked.

"Pete's doing it, along with Jen," Sirius nodded over to where, behind another rock and a snow wall, Peter and his girlfriend Jennifer making a large pile of snowballs. Other Gryffindors were coming and going from Peter's little hideaway to get more snowballs.

"You said there were still a few Ravenclaws left?" James asked.

Sirius nodded, and gestured with his chin to a small snow-fort between the lake and Hogwarts. Grinning, James grabbed a few snowballs from Peter and went in to flush them out.

After the Ravenclaw fort had been demolished by James and a few other Gryffindors who were out in the middle of the fray, they retreated back to their own fort beside the lake to think up a strategy to take care of the rest of the houses. Sirius just wanted them all to charge in and take care of them once and for all, but Remus pointed out that if they did that, they'd be pelted with snowballs and so out of the game by _both_ Slytherin and Hufflepuff before they could get fifty yards.

"We have to use magic," Remus explained, "only not on the snow, but on us. James, you know Disillusionment Charms, right?" James nodded, and Remus went on. "So let's get rid of the Hufflepuffs first--they're closer. What we can do is Disillusion some of us--leaving others behind to make sure our fort doesn't fall--and go around back behind the rocks, in the edges of the forest, and take them from behind. They won't even know what hit them."

"But Remus," a younger Gryffindor protested, one from third or fourth year, "aren't there monsters in the forest?"

Remus smiled kindly at the third or fourth year. "Don't worry," he said. "Anything scary is much deeper in the forest. The only things on the edges are things like fairies and Bowtruckles, things that will leave you alone if you leave them alone. So, who wants to mind the fort, and who wants to go in?"

For the most part, it was the younger set, fourth-year and below, who wanted to stay with the fort, though there were a few who wanted to go with the others. James, Remus, and Sirius performed the Disillusionment Charm on themselves and the others who volunteered, and, grabbing several snowballs each, they snuck out of their fort and into the edges of the forest.

A few times on the way, James and Remus had to cut off the giggling of some of the younger students, but they crept up behind the Hufflepuff fort--which actually didn't have a back--with no one seeing them. Most of the Hufflepuffs appeared to be there, though some were out combating the Slytherins, and probably the Gryffindors still back at the fort. Then, grinning, James sighted on one of the seventh year Hufflepuffs he knew, Adam Zeller, and fired. It hit him dead-on, which seemed to signal to the rest of the group that they should fire. Soon enough, the Hufflepuffs in the fort were decimated by the onslaught of snowballs, and had to give up as there was not a one of them who was not covered in snow. When the ones outside of the fort came running, the Gryffindors pelted them with snowballs too, and soon Hufflepuff was out of the fight. Best of all, though, was that they hadn't lost a single Gryffindor, as the Hufflepuffs were too disorganized to do anything but get hit, much less try hitting targets that they couldn't see. Flushed with victory, the Gryffindors returned triumphantly to their fort.

Once they got back, they started devising a battle plan for the Slytherins. The Slytherins seemed to be relying on the Whomping Willow getting too violent for anyone to get near their fort, and though the Marauders knew how to stop the Willow, doing so would open up the passage to the Shrieking Shack, and they didn't want any curious student to go down there.

"Let's just use the Disillusionment Charm again," Sirius suggested. "Only not all of us be Disillusioned. We can have some be decoys, and just start throwing snowballs at them. Then we draw them out, and the Disillusioned ones can take care of them. It's as simple as that."

They agreed to the plan, and soon implemented it. A grinning Sirius volunteered to be one of the decoys, because, as he said, "The Slytherins hate me more than nearly any other Gryffindor, so I'm the one who could most likely get them angry enough to come out. Then the rest of you can just pelt 'em with snowballs, and we win."

The plan was carried out just as Sirius had said. He got the Slytherins to come out, where the rest of the Gryffindors could begin to hit them with snowballs. The Slytherins, not knowing where the other snowballs were coming from, started throwing wildly in all directions, sometimes hitting a Disillusioned Gryffindor and sometimes not. But at the end of the battle, though both Sirius and Remus had been hit and were so out of the battle, Gryffindor prevailed, and everyone went into lunch. James went to bed with a smile that night, happy with the way the day had gone.


	17. Chapter 17

"Today's class is going to be very important," Harry said, and watched the heads of his students snap up all over the room. "Most, if not all, of you are going to be able to use it at least one point during your lives, if not more. It may be the very thing that let's you survive any encounters with Death Eaters, or other Dark wizards or Dark creatures." He looked around with a wry half-smile on his face. "I'm going to teach you how to run away."

The class was silent, staring at him, until Sirius exclaimed, "Run away? But--how is that going to be useful--I mean, isn't that...a bit...cowardly?"

A few of the Slytherins tittered, but Harry quieted it with a raised hand. "Mr. Black has a valid question," he said. "But yes, in some cases, running away might be considered cowardly. However, not in all. If you were outnumbered, carrying a piece of vital information, and if you stayed you would almost certainly die, would it be very _useful_ at all for you to stay?" Silently, Sirius shook his head. "Or what if, while you were fighting something else that didn't especially matter in the long run, Death Eaters attacked a village at your back. Would you abandon your current fight to go to the rescue of that village?" Sirius nodded, and Harry smiled at him. "Sometimes running away can be the most useful, and in some cases the bravest, thing you could do in a given situation."

Sirius shrugged. "I'll take your word for it, Professor. It still seems a bit weird to me, that running away could help, but," he shrugged again, "you're the teacher, and you know what you're talking about."

Harry nodded. "Once, several years ago, I was outnumbered, the other wizard with me was dead, and I had vital information that Dumbledore needed to hear. I didn't stay around for useless heroics that would get me killed, I just knew I had to get away. That was what would help me survive the best, and would help others survive the best. You have to make a decision based on your situation, about whether escaping is a good idea. But in order to be able to make that decision, you have to know how to escape. Do any of you know the spells?"

The class shook their heads. One Gryffindor girl exclaimed, "There're _spells_ for running away?"

Harry smiled. "There are, though they're not like Apparition. They're more things that would give you an easier time escaping. Things like fog spells, quick feet spells, and so on. There is one that acts much like Apparition, taking you to the first safe place you think of, but you need a good bit of power to pull that one off."

He looked around at his students, and put down his wand. "Okay, here's the spell for calling fog to obscure your escape. It's very simple. _Obscuro!_ " If his wand had still been in his hand, the classroom would have been covered in fog. "If you're going to practice that one, be sure you know a good wind spell to dispel the fog, or else it will be sticking around for quite a while."

He continued showing them various spells to help them escape, until he looked at the clock and saw that he only had about five minutes left until the bell would ring. "We don't have much time left, but before you go, I should tell you about that last escape spell, the one that acts a lot like Apparition. First of all, you need to have a safe place in mind. Often, that safe place is here at Hogwarts, or perhaps St. Mungo's. You can use the spell in tandem with others so that you all are taken to the same place. But much like Apparition, you could get splinched if you don't do it right, or if you don't have enough power behind the spell. That's why most other wizards simply rely on Floo powder, Apparition, portkeys, and so on, in order to get away from a dangerous place. But you should learn this spell anyway. The incantation is _Aufugio_." Just then, the bell rang. As the students streamed out of the room, he called, "Remember those spells! You might need them sooner or later. Mr. Snape, you could stay behind a moment, please?"

Snape, who was about to leave the room, stepped back from the door, a puzzled look on his face. As the door closed behind the last students, Snape walked towards Harry's desk and stopped beside it. "Professor?" he asked.

Harry sighed. "This won't take long, Mr. Snape. First of all, I wanted to apologize for any fright I gave you at our first dueling lesson." Harry felt rather weird for apologizing to Snape, of all people, but he figured he'd better. Besides, he was certain that Snape himself would never have apologized to him in the same situation, and it gave him a certain satisfaction that he was at least trying to be more polite than his old Potions teacher.

Snape looked vaguely surprised. "It was nothing, Professor," he muttered. Harry hid a smile--how just like Snape to hide that he had been scared. But that wasn't his only reason for holding Snape back.

"I also wanted to apologize for leaving so quickly, but I believed I needed to inform the Headmaster of this recent development immediately. But that doesn't excuse the fact that I left you with a bleeding arm that wouldn't clot. Did you take it to Madam Pomfrey?" It galled more to continue this apology, but Snape _was_ currently his student, and he needed to show _some_ concern. But he did hope Snape didn't hold on to his pride so much that it stopped him from getting help.

"Ah, no, Professor. I healed it myself," Snape replied, looking away. Harry raised an eyebrow, and Snape flushed slightly. Harry's eyebrow climbed higher; he didn't think he'd ever seen Snape look embarrassed. This was certainly a sight to remember! "My mother was a Healer at St. Mungo's," he explained, a bit self-consciously. "She taught me a few healing spells."

Harry certainly hadn't known that. He never would have figured a relative of Snape's for a Healer... "Well, all right then. Anyway, I thought I'd better inform you that soon we're to start a dueling unit in my class. Do you still want to continue these individual dueling lessons?"

Snape nodded quickly. "I'd still like to learn those Dark spells, to defend against them better, sir," he said. "And I daresay you're more challenging than most of the others in the class. So if it's alright with you, sir, I'd rather continue the individual lessons."

Harry nodded. "All right then, though you'll probably find some worthy opponents in class once we start dueling. And I don't think I need to remind you of the secrecy concerning the other matter?" Snape shook his head, paling slightly, and Harry nodded. "You may go, then. Here," he scribbled a note, "here's a note for your next teacher, in case you're late, saying that I was talking to you." Snape nodded and left.

Once Snape was gone, Harry started rubbing his forehead with one hand. _Now I have new sympathy for my teachers, if this was what they had to go through with teaching us..._ he thought, a headache starting to pound behind his eyes. _I never knew teaching could be so stressful...so many things add up. They need to think of so many things, take care of so many students...how do they do it all? I need some time off...but what to do? I have an evening free...would anyone be willing to go down to Hogsmeade with me, I wonder. Wait...Hagrid! And Hagrid's always game for a drink, so we could go to one of the pubs..._ His plans for the evening now thought up, Harry whistled as he grabbed his cloak and started down to Hagrid's hut to see if he was doing anything.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"Down t' Hogsmeade?" Hagrid's face brightened. "All right! Not many'd ask me, ye know. Most the other teachers don' like me much..." Hagrid said as he shrugged into his great moleskin coat and strode out the door of his hut, Harry right behind him. "So thanks. Fer invitin' me, an' all."

"No problem, Hagrid," Harry replied, smiling. He'd never really had a chance to do this with his Hagrid, so he was glad he could with this one. "So where to? The Three Broomsticks?"

"How 'bout th' Hog's Head?" Hagrid suggested. "Few o' m' mates might be there, an' I don' get t' see 'em very often."

"The Hog's Head it is, then," Harry agreed. He hadn't had much of a chance to go in there since his fifth year, and he never really did get a chance to try firewhisky...Ron would be jealous...

Harry grabbed them a table while Hagrid went to the bartender and ordered some firewhisky for Harry and his customary mulled mead for Hagrid himself. He came back, and they talked about work and the students for awhile--Hagrid has some fairly amusing tales of the students he saw on the grounds, and especially some good ones about chasing the Marauders out of the Forbidden Forest. He was just getting finished with one about how he dragged James away from an angry Bowtruckle in third year when he saw those friends of his that he mentioned. After telling Harry that he wouldn't be long, he went off to their table to saw hello.

Harry sat nursing his firewhisky--it had a very interesting taste, but an acquired one. It was hot going all the way down, and Harry thought it might take awhile before he'd decide to have another glass. But his attention was soon caught by the two black-cloaked people in the corner table behind his.

"--that new Defense teacher!" one of them was saying, and Harry surreptitiously leaned back in his chair in order to hear about whatever it was that concerned him.

"No!" the other growled. "We don't know anything about him, just that he's young and supposedly powerful. It's doubtful that he sympathizes with our cause, and besides, I don't recognize his last name. He'd probably a Mudblood."

Harry raised an eyebrow in surprise. These two were most likely Death Eaters, and thinking about recruiting him? Why him? Voldemort didn't know anything about him, or he shouldn't...and if he did, he'd know that there was no point in trying to recruit him. So what were these two Death Eaters talking about? Harry leaned in a bit closer to listen better.

"But having an insider would make the plan go a lot easier!" the first one argued. "There's no way that we can sway the ones that have been there a long time. Dumbledore's poisoned them with that Muggle-loving thinking for too long. It doesn't matter if this new Defense teacher is a Mudblood. We can use him for this plan and then get rid of him later."

This plan they were talking about...what was it? Harry's forehead furrowed as he tried to remember if he'd heard anything back in his time about any special plans that happened this time...but it was information that he learned recently that came to his mind. Something that James Potter had said...oh yes, that plan involving Sirius's mother and brother and James himself. Could this be the plan that they were talking about, and thinking of recruiting him for?

"That's assuming a Mudblood would even consider helping us," the second one said sharply. "He can't have missed what we're on about. He's supposed to be smart; he'd know that we wouldn't plan to keep him on."

"You're giving him too much credit," the first replied. "He's just a Mudblood, remember? They're not as good as we are--they can't be as smart as we are. And besides, we wouldn't have to tell him what we are. If we approach him as something else--"

"I still don't like it," the second one said sullenly. "I don't want to use any blasted Mudbloods; they'd foul the whole plan up. Besides, we've already _got_ a good plan. You do have all the ingredients, right?"

"Right," the first one said, "except for the boomslang skin, but I can get that soon enough. And once it's done, we give it to the boy, who gets his Muggle-lover brother. But I still don't like working with the mother. She gives me the creeps. Like she's going to up and curse you whenever you turn your back."

Harry had the sinking feeling that the people they were talking about were Sirius, Regulus, and Mrs. Black--it was almost definitely the plot that James had come to him with. Now he was certainly glad he'd let Hagrid choose the Hog's Head for a drink instead of the Three Broomsticks!

"Come on," the other one scoffed. "She's just an old lady. Her barks worse than her bite, you know. Besides, she is the one funding this whole operation. And it's her who's going to get to train that boy of hers, the older one. Once she's done with him, I've no doubt that he'll serve our Lord as faithfully as his cousin Bella!" the two men started laughing, and Harry felt sick. _Training_ Sirius? He had a feeling he didn't want to know what that "training" would consist of...

"Harry!" a large hand came down on his shoulder suddenly, and Harry was so startled that he spilled the little firewhisky he had left on the table. He looked up, and Hagrid's face appeared above him. "Sorry 'bout that. Anyway, finished talkin' t' m' friends, so..." Harry tuned him out for a moment as he turned around to see what the two Death Eaters were doing, but they had disappeared. Sighing, Harry turned to face Hagrid again, and something prickled in his stomach, something that he thought had nothing to do with the firewhisky.

"Listen Hagrid," he said, and Hagrid fell silent. "I have a bad feeling...I think we should leave. Right now."

"All right, Harry," Hagrid said, a bit taken aback. "I'll jes get m' coat...all right then..." he elbowed around a few of the people at tables close to theirs and grabbed his coat, then turned to face the door. Harry nodded, and they slipped outside, then started on their way back to the castle.

"Going somewhere, are you?" a voice said behind them, and Harry spun around to see the two Death Eaters he'd been listening to inside the pub.

"I think you've been listening to our conversation," the other said--Death Eater number one, Harry thought.

"We don't like it when people don't leave their noses in their own business, and go sticking them into others'," Death Eater number two said mildly.

"Harry?" Hagrid asked quietly from behind him.

"Hagrid, get out of here. I'll take care of these two," Harry replied quickly, watching the Death Eaters in front of him, who seemed content to wait.

"But Harry--" Hagrid protested, but Harry shook his head sharply.

"Just go!" he hissed. "These are Death Eaters, and you don't even have a wand!" Harry turned his attention back to his opponents, and hoped Hagrid would listen to him. Hagrid, who wasn't even a full wizard, certainly didn't have the combat experience that Harry himself did.

"Finished, then?" Death Eater number one asked, and before Harry could do anything, whipped out his wand and immediately cast a spell in Harry's direction. Harry dove to one side, pulling his wand out and casting a Stunning Spell at one of them. He'd rather capture them than anything else.

Harry saw another spell coming at him, and rolled forward, so it hit the crates behind him. They exploded, and bits of wood came flying past Harry, one of them clipping him hard enough on the cheek that he started bleeding. Harry cursed, and ducked again as another spell came winging past.

" _Stupefy!_ " he yelled, but it missed his target and dissipated into the ground. He ducked another spell and rolled forward, shouting, " _Stupefy!_ " again, and this time with results. One of the black-cloaked figures fell over, but the other one was nowhere in sight. Harry cursed again as he felt a spell come at him from behind and threw himself to the ground, letting the spell fly harmlessly overhead. Briefly he let himself wonder why no one else was appearing, surely they heard the sounds of a duel going on--

He cast another Stunner and danced out of the way of the Death Eater's latest spell--but he forgot to look where he was going; he tripped over the Stunned Death Eater's prone body and sprawled facedown in the dirt. He rolled over and saw the other Death Eater standing above him, and cast another Stunner just as the Death Eater cast a spell on him. He saw his connect, and the Death Eater fell on top of him--but the other's hit him as well, and he just realized that he hadn't recognized the spell. The last thing he heard before his vision faded to black was feet pounding on the street over to where he was lying.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

He opened his eyes, only to close them tightly again as a bright light shone into his face. He heard a very familiar chuckle from close to where he was lying, and slowly opened his eyes to stare directly into Albus Dumbledore's blue eyes. Harry let his eyes wander, and blinked in surprise when he recognized the Hogwarts infirmary.

"How are you feeling?" Dumbledore asked. "That was quite a spell you were hit with. Good thing Hagrid came with reinforcements, who got you to Madam Pomfrey quickly, or you might not have been purged of the spell quickly enough."

Harry blinked again. "What spell was I hit with?" he asked. "And those Death Eaters--do you still have them?"

Dumbledore nodded. "Madam Rosmerta called the Aurors as soon as we got you back here. Both Death Eaters are in custody, and are probably being questioned by the Ministry at this moment. We have to thank you for catching them."

"And that spell?" Harry persisted, and Dumbledore sobered. He sighed.

"That spell's use is against the law. Your Death Eaters would be indicted for using that spell alone," he said, and Harry felt a prickle of fear down his spine. "It's designed to inject a poison into the victim's body, one that will go directly to the brain and will eventually wipe clean all memories and traces of personality. If we hadn't reached you in time, or if Death Eaters had gotten to you first, you would have been very susceptible to being taken over using Imperius or some potion for the same use."

Harry grimaced. "Nasty spell," he said, and Dumbledore chuckled.

"Yes, a very nasty spell," he agreed. "Madam Pomfrey was able to extract the poison before it reached your brain, but you'll still be quite weak. You'll be in her care for the rest of the week, at least, and possibly more." Harry grimaced again. It was only Wednesday.

Dumbledore's eyes twinkled as he saw Harry's grimace. "Not a fan of the hospital wing, are you?" he smiled as Harry shook his head, but then the smile disappeared. "I must impress upon you the importance of resting here and taking all the potions that Poppy gives you. If you don't, you could possibly lose part of your memory."

Harry's eyes widened. "But you said Madam Pomfrey got all the poison out!" he exclaimed.

"All that she could, Harry," Dumbledore said, and Harry sank back into his pillows. "You're out of danger, as long as you take the potions, which should eradicate the remaining poison."

"But who is going to take my classes?" he protested. _Dammit_ , he thought. _That just figures. I go down to Hogsmeade to relax with a friend, and I come back poisoned after an unexpected duel with Death Eaters. Figures something like this would happen to me._

"I will," Dumbledore replied, and Harry blinked. Dumbledore laughed. "Don't worry, I shall take good care of your students. And it is only for a few days, isn't it?"

Harry chuckled, and closed his eyes as a wave of tiredness washed over him. "Right," he said, and yawned. "Just a few days..." As he drifted off to sleep, Dumbledore quietly rose and slipped out of the hospital wing. Madam Pomfrey came out of her office, a steaming goblet with a potion in her hand, but she stopped when she saw that Harry was asleep. She smiled, and set it down on the night table for Harry to drink when he woke up.


	18. Chapter 18

Professor Dumbledore was, without a doubt, the weirdest teacher James could ever remember having.

"You want us to _what?_ " That was Severus Snape, and for perhaps the first time in his memory, James agreed with the sniveling git. Only mentally, of course--it wouldn't do to agree with him _out loud_.

"A _picnic?_ " That was Anne Edgecoombe, Lily's friend. Her brown eyes were wide open in surprise. "In the _Forbidden Forest?_ "

"That is what I said, Miss Edgecoombe," Dumbledore replied placidly, then beamed around at the class. "As this is a double period, we do have a great deal of time, and I've already gotten our supplies from the kitchens. Shall we go?"

No one moved. James looked around, and, seeing that no one else showed any signs of speaking up, cleared his throat and said, "Er, Professor? Precisely _why_ are we going into the Forbidden Forest?"

"Because it will be a learning experience," Dumbledore said firmly.

"But it's full of monsters!" exclaimed one of the Slytherin boys. Dumbledore raised a silvery eyebrow.

"This is the NEWT Defense class, is it not?" he asked, and the boy flushed. Dumbledore smiled. "Well then, you should all be quite capable of dealing with anything in there, especially in such a large group." He stood up suddenly. "Off we go, then."

Unable to think of anything else to say, the class stood up and trudged out of the room, Dumbledore following them with a large picnic basket floating behind him. Once out of the castle, Dumbledore took the lead, as he was the only person who knew their eventual destination. James and Sirius exchanged a glance as the class went deeper into the Forest, past areas that they knew quite well. Finally Dumbledore stopped in a seemingly random clearing, though looking around, James could see that the trees were much thicker in this part of the woods than the outskirts he was used to.

Dumbledore calmly took a seat on the ground, and the picnic basket floated to a halt beside him. All the students just stood there as he took out a bright red-and-white checkered tablecloth, which started to unfold itself and uncover place settings for all students, each already set with tea and biscuits. Dumbledore picked up his cup and saucer and started sipping, then raised an eyebrow at his students. James and Sirius exchanged glances again, then shrugged simultaneously and dropped down onto the ground. The rest of the class soon followed.

After most had already finished their tea and biscuits, Snape sat back on his heels and said with a raised eyebrow, "I assume the reason you brought us out here was not for us to enjoy tea-time."

Dumbledore chuckled, seemingly amused at Snape's bluntness. "Correct, Mr Snape. My purpose in bringing you all out here was not entirely for tea-time, though it was most excellent tea and biscuits, don't you agree?" A few chuckled at this, and Dumbledore smiled. "But no, Mr Snape, I brought you out here because I thought it uniquely suited today's lesson. You are going to have a mock battle."

Anne blinked. "Er...Professor, why, exactly?"

Dumbledore looked at her soberly. "Because this is a NEWT-level defense course, Miss Edgecoombe. Once you leave this school, you will be beyond Hogwarts's protection, and some of you will find yourselves fighting in real battles. You must be prepared for that eventuality. It is my hope that this lesson will help you understand the unpredictability inherent in true battles, with so many people around. It is quite unlike the experience of dueling."

"But why did we have tea and biscuits first?" one of the Slytherins asked, and Dumbledore laughed.

"We can't have you battling on empty stomachs now, can we?" he asked with a smile. "These are not true battle conditions as of yet, where you may have to go without food for quite a long time. But this is merely an exercise, and so I thought you may satisfy the hunger of your belly before entering the fray."

James saw Remus and Lily exchange dubious looks, but he himself was looking forward to this mock battle. "Professor, what are the rules?" he asked, and Dumbledore smiled at him.

"They're very simple, Mr Potter," he said. "No use of Unforgivables, as you all are still students rather than trained Aurors, and remain within the boundaries. The boundaries will be marked."

"How will they be marked, Professor?" one of the Slytherins asked, but Dumbledore smiled enigmatically and didn't answer. James didn't take that as a good sign. He hoped it wasn't _too_ bad...Dumbledore was known for his eccentricity, after all...

"Ah, and one more thing," Dumbledore said, beaming around at them. "You shall be divided into groups for this exercise; groups which I shall be picking. So stand up and we'll get ready to begin!"

Several minutes later, James found himself with Sirius, Anne Edgecoombe and her friend Karen Marchbanks, two Slytherin girls, and Snape. Lily, Remus, and Peter were with the other group, and for the first time, James was starting to feel apprehensive about this lesson. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Sirius and Snape glaring at each other, and briefly wondered what Dumbledore had been thinking, putting those two on the same team. And then having to fight against Remus, Lily and Peter wasn't going to be fun, he knew. He hoped that everyone would get out of this lesson what Dumbledore hoped they would, or it could be a disaster.

When everyone had themselves sorted into teams, Dumbledore stood in front of them. "Remember, the only rules are that no Unforgivables may be used, and that you must stay within the boundary. I shall alert you when the battle is over. The only objectives are to retain use of your functions as well as fighting your enemy, so keep those in mind. Are there any questions?" Dumbledore looked around, but no one raised their hand or spoke up. He nodded slightly, raised his wand, and brought it down with a swirl of golden sparks. "Begin!"

Immediately James and Sirius melted into the forest on one side, and saw Remus and Peter doing the same with Lily on the other. He and Sirius moved farther away from the clearing with their wands out, nearly back to back as they looked around them, alert for signs of anyone on the opposing team. A twig snapping made James whirl around, his wand at the ready, but it was only Karen, who immediately moved off with Anne, her face slightly red. James rolled his eyes--even he could be quieter than that. But then, he'd had more practice than these girls had, with his monthly excursions into the forest.

A red light off in the distance made him whirl again, and he mentally berated himself for his jumpiness. He caught Sirius's eye and pointed his chin towards the area the light had come from, strangely reluctant to say anything aloud. But Sirius understood him, as he usually did, and they moved off together with the silence that practice gave them.

A bush rustled behind them, and this time it was Sirius who spun around, leaving Jamse to keep an eye on their front, content in his knowledge that Sirius would watch his back. But then he heard a very familiar voice cry, " _Stupefy!_ " behind him and watched red light sail past his ear, and couldn't resist turning around to see where Peter was.

He turned around just in time to see Sirius send the Stunning curse straight back at Peter, who ducked behind the same bush he had jostled earlier. Then James heard another sound behind him and turned again, this time to face Lily with Remus moving cautiously at her back. He hesitated for a moment, not wanting to hex her, but she took the matter out of his hands as she sent a Dizzy Jinx winging straight at him. He was about to dive out of the way when he realized that if he did that, he'd be letting the curse hit Sirius straight in the back. In a split-second decision, he stood his ground and let the jinx hit him, and immediately had to sit down as waves of dizziness flooded his head and his legs felt like they were going to collapse under him.

He hit the back of Sirius's leg as he sat, and Sirius fired off one more Stunner at the bush before spinning around. He quickly saw James sitting on the ground, holding his head in his hands, and fired off a curse at Lily, who dodged it with ease. Sirius grabbed James by the collar of his robes and began to bodily haul him backwards, still firing off curses at Remus and Lily pursued. Peter, at least, appeared to have been Stunned, for he didn't move from the bush.

James _really_ wished Sirius had left him there to Lily's mercy, because being dragged along a bumpy forest floor while incredibly dizzy was not something he wanted to repeat. His teeth smashed against each other when Sirius accidentally banged him against a root, and he started waving his hand in random directions, hoping that somehow he'd hit Sirius's arm to get his attention. He finally snagged a sleeve, and figured that was close enough.

"Sirius," he said, as soon as Sirius looked down at him. "This isn't helping. Just let me recover by myself and go on."

Sirius looked doubtful. "You sure...?" he asked.

James nodded, then immediately wished he hadn't. "Yes. Just go, I'm not much of a target right now."

Sirius still looked dubious, but James flapped his arms at him, and with one last backward glance, took off. James closed his eyes and sat back against a tree trunk, willing the dizziness to pass, and not trusting himself with a wand until it did. With his aim as it was now, it was as likely he'd hit the tree or the ground as anything he was aiming for.

After a few minutes, he felt the cloud in his head begin to disperse, and reluctantly roused himself up off the floor before moving off in the direction Sirius had gone, hoping to catch up before Sirius got himself into anything too deeply. He had a feeling that's what happened.

His premonition had been right, as he found out several moments later. He hadn't actually _seen_ Sirius yet, but he was sure that the yelling could be heard for at least a mile around, and Snape's replies were just as heated. He couldn't hear exactly what they were saying, and they generally tended to lose coherency when they increased in volume. James broke into a run, deciding that the strange feeling in his head would have to take second place to whatever argument Sirius and Snape were having.

About a minute later, he skidded back into the clearing they had started from. Dumbledore was no where to be found, but Sirius and Snape were standing at an edge, yelling and waving their arms, red-faced and breathing hard. James swiftly curbed the urge to just walk up to them and kick both of them, as that wouldn't solve anything, and had to lean against another tree trunk as his vision greyed a bit and he had to close his eyes.

But before James had gathered his energy a second time to try and break it up, two voices cried, " _Stupefy!_ " in unison, and the shouting immediately cut off as two bodies hit the soft grass. James opened his eyes to see Remus and Lily walk into the clearing, their wands held out in front of them. Remus had a carefully blank look on his face, one which James knew from experience meant that he was angry. James was suddenly very glad that he was not Sirius right then.

" _Enervate_ ," Remus said quietly, and both Sirius and Snape sat up, rubbing their heads where they had hit the ground. Remus stood over both of them, his arms crossed, and simply _looked_ at them. James wasn't surprised to see Sirius look away--he never liked invoking Remus's anger--but he _was_ surprised to see Snape flush slightly. James raised an eyebrow. This could be interesting...

"I hope the two of you realize how absolutely stupid you were being," Remus said mildly, as if discussing the weather, and both boys flinched. "Making enough noise to mask our arrival, and probably over some idiotic thing, too." His voice hadn't wavered from its conversational tone. Sirius was bright red, and Snape was looking away. _Now_ the surprising thing was that Snape was letting Remus lecture him--he would have come in with a werewolf retort by now, but...ah. Lily was there. Snape must have actually been keeping his promise not to let anyone know that Remus was a werewolf. How surprising...

Remus raised his eyebrow at them. "Well?" he asked gently. "Why _were_ you two yelling like that?" James was irresistibly reminded of why Dumbledore had insisted Remus remain a prefect when James himself made Head Boy. He still had the lecturing-the-first-years voice down pat.

Neither Sirius nor Snape said anything, but Remus just looked at them, until finally Snape muttered, "He ran into me."

Remus stared. "That's _it_?" he asked. "Sirius ran into you, so you started a yelling match fit to wake up the whole forest?" James thought that it did sound rather ignominious, put that way.

"It was his fault!" Snape said hotly, momentarily forgetting his embarrassment, but a look from Remus silenced him.

"And I'm sure it was an accident," he said firmly. "Wasn't it, Sirius?" He looked expectantly at Sirius until Sirius nodded, still looking shamefaced. "Well then," he clasped his hands together in front of him, "since it was an accident, neither of you will mind apologizing, will you?"

At this, Sirius and Snape stared at him, and James did too. Then a new voice entered the clearing, saying, "I agree with Mr Lupin that an apology is in order." James, Sirius, and Snape all looked around to see Dumbledore and the rest of the students watching them with curiosity and the other side of the clearing. Dumbledore's eyes twinkled as he explained, "We heard all the shouting and came to investigate." Sirius and Snape reddened again, but under the watchful eyes of the Headmaster, muttered an apology. Dumbledore smiled at Remus and walked into the clearing. James did too, and thankfully sat down in the grass with the rest of the students.

"So," Dumbledore said once they were all seated, "what have you all learned from this?"

"Battles are messy," Karen volunteered. "They don't have the coordination a duel does, and everybody seems to be running around, not knowing what to do, a lot."

Dumbledore smiled at her. "Good, Miss Marchbanks," he praised, and Karen dimpled. He looked around at the rest of them. "Battles are messy. They are uncoordinated, and often orders are forgotten for spur-of-the-moment decisions. That is one of their dangers. Any other observations?"

"Silence is your ally," Remus said dryly, looking directly at Snape and Sirius, who flushed again. "It lets you sneak up on your enemies."

"Yes, I think we've had ample demonstration of that," Dumbledore agreed. "Any more?"

The rest of the class started sharing observations, but James held back, starting to feel dizzy again. That had been some Jinx...he grinned inwardly. He wouldn't have expected anything else from his Lily.

But before he knew it, he was being tugged upwards by both arms, and blinked to see Sirius's worried face in front of him.

"I knew I shouldn't have left you back there," Sirius fretted. "Lily's jinx was apparently stronger than you thought, huh? Well, let's just get you to the hospital wing..."

James shook his head. "I don't need to go to the hospital wing!" he snapped. "I'm just dizzy, it'll wear off..."

"If it's stayed around this long, it might stay around longer," Remus cut in. "The hospital wing really is probably the best place for you now."

"It will go away sooner or later, you know," James said mulishly, but Remus and Sirius just looked at each other, and by mutual consent started hauling his arms so that he was forced to start walking with them. James shook them off, muttering, "I can walk myself, you wankers..."

Peter frowned at him. "Then walk yourself straight to the hospital wing," he ordered. James, now a bit bemused at even unassuming _Peter_ ordering to go, started walking on his own back to the castle. The rest of the class seemed to have already left, but thankfully they soon got into parts of the forest they were familiar with, and it didn't take them long at all to break free of the trees and reach the entrance.

Once inside, James required a bit more prodding, but finally his friends started dragging him again, and he agreed to walk there on his own. But they still walked with him, "in case he fainted," they assured him. James wasn't sure whether he was assured or not.

Once at the hospital wing doors, he required another push to get inside, but Madam Pomfrey immediately came bustling out of her office, frowning when she saw the four of them. "What have you lot done now?" she asked tartly.

"James got himself hit with a Dizzy Jinx in Defense today," Sirius explained, and Madam Pomfrey clucked her tongue. "It was maybe half an hour ago, and it hasn't worn off yet. We're not sure if we trust him to come to Potions with us."

"I should think not," Madam Pomfrey said, grabbing James's arm and depositing him onto a bed. "It must have been an extraordinarily strong charm, to have lasted as long as it is. Well dear, you just stay here until the dizziness is all gone, and then you can run back to class."

James sat on the bed and just glared at his so-called friends, who grinned back at him. "I'm fine," he declared, but Madam Pomfrey wasn't listening, instead going back into her office.

"You should know by now that she'll never listen to a patient's self-diagnosis," a voice said dryly, and James looked a few beds down to see Professor Patterson smiling at him. "She's like a train, running over anyone who tries to get in her way."

"I heard that, Professor!" Madam Pomfrey called from her office, and Patterson chuckled.

"So, a Dizzy Jinx, was it?" he asked with interest. "What _did_ Dumbledore do to you today?"

"Staged a mock battle," James grumbled. "Anything went except for Unforgivables and we had to stay inside the boundary. Hmmm..." he thought suddenly. "I wonder what happened to those who nearly got out."

At that, Remus winced. "It started making a sound like a foghorn," he said. "It kept increasing in volume until I turned back. It was a rather effective deterrent, though." James made a face. Now he was glad he hadn't hit the boundary.

"When are you coming back, Professor?" Peter asked. Patterson smiled.

"The train," he jerked his chin in the direction of Madam Pomfrey's office, "said she'd let me back to class on Monday, and I'll be sure to hold her to her word. So that should be your only class with the Headmaster, as it's Thursday right now."

"So what _did_ happen?" Sirius asked. "All Dumbledore told us was that you were in a duel in Hogsmeade with a few Death Eaters. Why were you in a duel in Hogsmeade? And since I _know_ that you're powerful, how was it only a few Death Eaters nearly got the best of you?" At that, James shot Sirius a look; that had been a rather rude question, but Sirius hadn't seemed to notice.

Patterson winced. "Never underestimate your opponents," he told them. "Especially not when under the influence of alcohol." Sirius grinned, but inclined his head, waiting for the rest of his questions to be answered.

Patterson looked lost in thought for a moment, and seemed to be debating whether to tell him. But if he was, it was a short debate, because he was soon beckoning them closer. James transferred himself to the bed right next to Patterson's, and the others arranged themselves around those two beds.

"Hagrid and I found some Death Eaters in the Hog's Head," he said quietly. "Mind that you four don't let this get around, as the Headmaster obviously doesn't want it known. But what I found them talking about concerns at least two of you intimately, so I felt you had a right to know."

James felt a trickle of fear run down his spine. "Two of us?" he asked, then, affecting a casualness that he didn't feel, went on. "Which two?"

Patterson looked at him soberly. "You and Sirius, James," he said, and James closed his eyes and the affirmation of what he feared. "I believe it has something to do with the plot you came to me about several months ago."

Sirius, who had been looking resigned since Patterson said his name, looked sharply at James. "You _told_ him about that?" he asked, disapproval tingeing his voice. James scowled.

"Of course I did," he replied. "I don't know about you, but _I_ certainly don't want to see what your mother has in store for you! Or for me, for that matter! Professor Patterson is the person most equipped to deal with it, and I thought telling him might help!"

"I think it did," Patterson said gravely, and the two Gryffindors turned their attention back to him. "With James's information, I was able to at least recognize what they were talking about, even if I don't quite know what to do with it. We also still have those Death Eaters in custody, so that should help somewhat."

"So what did you hear about?" Sirius asked, at least seeming to have forgiven James for now. James breathed a small sigh of relief and leaned closer as Patterson frowned.

"I know they were talking about trying to recruit me..." he said slowly, "but they decided not to because I was probably a Muggle-born. They said that your mother gave them the creeps," at that, a small smile crossed Sirius's face, "but that she was going to be given control over your "training" once they got you back, and soon you'd be as obedient as your cousin Bella." At that, the smile disappeared, and James felt chilled. _Training? I don't like the sound of that..._

"Was there anything else?" Remus asked quickly. James glanced at his friend, and saw in Remus's eyes the same fear and worry he knew were clouding his own. "Anything about what they would be doing to implement this plan?"

Patterson frowned again. "There was," he said. "Something about...about...oh bloody hell," he swore suddenly. "I've lost it!"

James suddenly felt deflated, and leaned back against the pillows on his bed. What a turn of luck, that Patterson had overheard the Death Eaters' plans and was unable to remember them. He sighed.

The five of them stayed there in silence for awhile, none apparently knowing what to say. After a few minutes, Madam Pomfrey bustled out of her office again, and while she frowned to see James in a different bed, she soon checked him and pronounced him free to go. But he couldn't even muster up enthusiasm for being out of the hated hospital wing. A glance at Sirius walking along beside him on the way down to the dungeons for Potions showed his hair obscuring his face, so James had no idea what his almost-brother was thinking. So James scuffed his shoe against the stone floor, and wished desperately for some way to help get him and Sirius out of this mess they had unknowingly been dragged into.


End file.
